How Quitting Can Help You Reach Your Goals

One of the best pieces of life advice I’ve ever encountered is about quitting.

I first learned about it from Scott Adams’ book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big”. He talks about using quitting to his advantage in building his fitness habit. Whenever he would really struggle to find the motivation for the gym he would make a deal with himself about quitting.

He would tell himself that he at least has to put on his gym clothes and get to the gym. If he then gets to the gym and still doesn’t feel like doing anything, he gives himself 100% permission to walk away and go home without ever doing the workout.

But 9 times out of 10 he ends up doing the workout.

When we’re pursuing a goal, we tend to place all the importance on momentum. We think if we just keep going we’ll get there. But there’s power in giving yourself permission to quit.

It’s extremely easy to get overwhelmed by the totality of a new goal. Keeping with the gym example, it’s not as simple as doing some exercises. It involves getting dressed, transport to the gym location, planning the workout, executing the workout itself, then the shower and post-gym ritual. Some days, doing all of that is just too much, and when you think about going, you can almost feel paralyzed by all the steps it entails.

Adams’ strategy combats this exact issue by focusing on all those steps individually rather than as a whole. When you look at them as a whole, your mind jumps to all or nothing mode, but when you break it down and truly allow yourself to complete something one step at a time it becomes much more manageable.

Allowing yourself to quit is what keeps you in step-by-step mode. Step-by-step mode is easier on the mind and it makes the prospect of starting achievable. Therein lies the true power of this trick - it gets you to start.

Starting is often the hardest part of any goal, new habit, task, or errand. Once we start, we often find that the momentum comes on its own. Just like getting dressed and getting to the gym often turns into a completed workout. And for those rare days we do quit after starting, it tells us that we probably were in need of rest or redirection - which is equally valuable.

I’ve used this advice in many areas of my life, including my fitness habit, languages, and even work tasks when I’m really not feeling motivated. First, I’ll break down whatever the task is into the smallest steps I can manage. Then I make the quitting deal with myself and give myself permission to stop after I complete the first step. I know it works because, more often than not, I end up getting way farther along in the process of completing whatever I set out to do.

The last thing I like about this method is that it builds in opportunities to stop and reflect. By giving ourselves permission to quit after each step, we’ll be consciously thinking about how we feel during each part. Maybe we realize we need to change directions or tactics after the first couple steps, maybe we build momentum and get excited, maybe we need to stop and revisit it later, or maybe we really do need to quit altogether. If we’re paying attention, these cues can reveal worthwhile information about ourselves.

Like any other tip, this one isn’t foolproof. There will be days where nothing works and you can’t even bring yourself to start the tiniest step of a task. But I’m willing to bet it will work more often than you think.