Quitting is Absolutely Required if you want to Make Room for New Things

You won’t have time or energy to do new things unless you clear out some old things. This applies to everything you do, such as work projects, hobbies, commitments to organizations and friendships. It’s much like the stuff in your house. If you want to bring in new stuff for your house, you will need to give away or throw away some old stuff. If you fail to make room for new things, you will clog your house with too much stuff, making it unlivable, life-destroying.

That is the point of the following quote by Annie Duke, from her book, Quit: The Art of Knowing When to Walk Away (2022):

A common misconception about quitting is that it will slow your progress or stop it altogether. But it is the reverse that is actually true. If you stick to a path that is no longer worth pursuing, whether it’s a relationship that isn’t going well, or a stock that you’re invested in that’s losing money, or an employee that you’ve hired who isn’t performing, that is when you lose ground. By not quitting, you are missing out on the opportunity to switch to something that will create more progress toward your goals. Anytime you stay mired in a losing endeavor, that is when you are slowing your progress. Anytime you stick to something when there are better opportunities out there, that is when you are slowing your progress. Contrary to popular belief, quitting will get you to where you want to go faster.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

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