The freedom that quitting brings can be so enticing. No more pain, no more struggle. No more having to deal with the feeling of responsibility of something that has caused so much difficulty.
There are many things that appear to be “benefits” of quitting, but are they really benefits?
It’s safe to say that quitting can definitely make a person feel better in the present moment of not having to deal with the struggle of what’s not working. But we know deep down that wanting to quit is a struggle because we know we really shouldn’t quit and are just torn between wanting ‘good feelings’ and wanting ‘desired results’.
It’s just the feeling of being completely over the fact that it’s not working when you think it should be working, that triggers the urge to quit.
It is perfectly normal to feel the urge to quit. The mind is programmed to want things NOW. However, quitting means dreams will NEVER become a reality (“Yikes!”). Thus, it is important to have tools to combat this powerful urge. For this reason, I laid out 3 very useful ways to help pave the way out of the urge when you feel it, so you can get back to having what you really want in life!
3 Ways To Overcome The Urge To Quit
1.) Break Things Up Into Smaller Steps
A very large part of wanting to quit derives from feeling overwhelmed by the large workload ahead. The workload, though, is necessary to have, so it’s important to make sure it always feels doable. The way you do that is by breaking up the workload into smaller steps so that you are concentrating on doing each task one by one. By this, the work won’t feel nearly as intimidating as completing the giant end goal.
This will not only be a good encourager to start working, but it also gives way for tons of momentum of continued work down the road. By concentrating on doing the little things one by one instead of focusing on the big overwhelming goal that needs to be completed, it makes it much easier to start and finish work that needs to be done. As a result, it creates progression much faster and establishes a strong desire to continue working.
Even if the major goal hasn’t been completed yet, because you are focused on doing the little things, you are able to notice what’s gotten completed and can celebrate the progress you’ve done (this is huge!). Whereas if you only focused on completing the final big goal, you wouldn’t be able to really notice and appreciate all the work you’ve done in between until you finally hit the main goal. That in contrast only creates negative energy and a sense of discouragement to work again.
So make sure you don’t concentrate on the big goal that needs to be completed, but instead break down your workload into smaller steps! The smaller the better! Doing so will help liberate your mind allowing you to only focus on doing little things. This in return will make it easier to want to start working and will further encourage you to get more and more work done!
2.) Remember That A Solution Is Always Waiting For You
When things don’t work out, the struggle can make it so easy to believe that the problem can’t be solved. And because of this, it causes people to want to give up, convinced that it won’t work for them. What is great and very encouraging to know is that there is always a solution for everything!
No matter how tough the problem is to fix or how complicated it may be, there have been far too many successful people who’ve provided their valuable advice, techniques, hardships, and understanding that shows how they were able to make things work for them, for there to not be a solution for every problem that arises.
A simple way to find needed info is to look up advice from successful people who are in the same niche as you that have accomplished what you want for yourself. You will find amazing information everywhere! Info that exposes how they became successful, what they did to overcome obstacles, after obstacles, after obstacles. As you find the solutions you start noticing that the belief that “This won’t work for me” is nothing but a belief based on personal limitations.
The beauty of living in today’s era is that we have the greatest source of instant access that humanity has ever seen. Literally! We can take a few seconds or so to type something out on Google that we need help with and just like that we have access to countless information to help solve what we needed help with!
So it is very important to always know that you have help right in front of you whenever you need it! Don’t give up because what you haven’t solved that you want to be solved, has been lingering for so long. Always know that a solution is always in the background waiting to help you out and get you to the next level of success!
3.) Remember Why You Started The Journey In The First Place
Now let’s just say you chose to give up on your dreams. Picture your future without your dreams in it. What does that look like? Would you have preferred to have your dreams be part of your life instead? It’s safe to say that the answer would be a ‘Yes’ for all of us. It’s obvious that we would prefer living our dreams, hence this is why we call it our dream life – the life that we fantasize about having instead!
The natural desire for better makes it SO important to bring up your “Why” when you want to give up. When you want to quit, really take the time to think about the ultimate reason(s) you fantasized about that made you want to start your journey in the first place. Thinking about these deep core values will help guide your focus onto what is actually important.
Yes, the pain of failure can really suck, especially when you didn’t expect failure to happen. And it can be really easy to value the importance of not being in pain as number one. However, when you bring up your ‘Why’, the ultimate reason(s) that explains why you need to do what you are doing, should pain really be prioritized over your values of what you desire to have in your life?
You may be doing this for your family, your friends, or your loved ones. Does pain really override them? Or should people value pain over helping to BETTER the lives of their family, friends, and loved ones? You may be doing this for financial freedom so you can have more time to do whatever you want when you want. Or you may be doing this to fulfill a purpose deep inside yourself. Would it really be ok with you in the future to not leave the mark on the world you desire within your heart?
Does having no pain really override personal values?
People do things for all sorts of personal reasons, but if the answer is ever – pain is more important than your ‘Why‘, then it is vital to find a different ‘Why’. A die-hard ‘Why’ that makes you have to have it no matter what. Why find it? Because…
“People don’t do something without having a good enough reason to do it.”
It is the ‘Why’ that fuels the meaning behind everything we do, so it is VITAL for you to be able to go back to your ‘Why’ when you are in a lot of pain and are wanting to quit. It will help make you look at the pain of wanting to quit, differently, for what it really is.
Conclusion
When you are faced with the urge to quit, use these three methods. They lighten the mental workload, establish the reality that solutions are always waiting in the background, and create useful urgency to work from. Even though each method is great on its own already, we recommend leveraging all of them together. That way you will gain even more protection against the urge to quit. Quitting can be quite enticing, but honing in on these three 3 methods will give you back power over your life!