The Upside to Quitting

As the saying goes: "Winners never quit and quitters never win."  Well, what if we thought of this a little differently.

As a recruiter, I encounter people on a daily basis who are open to explore new opportunities and quit their current job. There are a variety of reasons contributing to this life-changing decision including - culture, work/life balance, the next step in their career, salary, benefits, etc.

However, there are also multiple reasons that make people apprehensive or nervous to quit - such as: the fear of change, complacency, salary, and many other factors.

At ASA Staffing World 2015, I was introduced to the book, “Think Like a Freak” written by the authors Stephen J. Levitt and Stephen J. Dunbar.

One chapter in particular stuck out to me titled, “The Upside of Quitting.” This chapter covers several posed questions, experiments, and results surrounding the upside of quitting (whether it be your job, a habit, a relationship, or a project).

Through research and experimentation, Levitt and Dunbar found that a high percentage of those that quit found themselves to be happier. However, in order for someone to successfully quit they must overcome 3 biases that affect the human’s mentality to not quit.

Overcoming the 3 biases to quitting:

1) Sunk-cost fallacy

This is the belief that it is counterproductive to give up and quit after you’ve invested your time, money and brainpower into a project, so you continue to expend all your energy into that project to “avoid failure.”

In the book, an example was given of two country governments that partnered together to invest billions of dollars into a project that was not “economically viable.” Despite the ineffectiveness of the project, the two patrons continued to throw resources at it - including people’s time and brainpower – simply because they didn't like the idea of quitting.  

Rather than throwing your resources away, how else could you better utilize your time, money, and brainpower?

2) Focus on concrete costs and not opportunity cost

Another force prohibiting people from quitting is the tendency to focus on concrete costs, aka the sunk-cost fallacy contributors: time, money, and brainpower, rather than the opportunity cost of surrendering your efforts to invest them elsewhere.

Unlike opportunity costs, concrete (or tangible) costs are easier to calculate.

For example:

You’re interested in going back to school for your MBA, you know it will cost at least two years of your time and $100,000 (concrete costs). However, you can't help but think - what could I do with that time and money if I weren’t in school (opportunity cost)? Might you be doing something that makes your life more fulfilling, happier, productive, and exciting? 

3) Quitting is a sign of failure

We live in a society accustomed to the belief that quitting is a sign of failure and no one likes to fail.

But, looking at the big picture, is quitting and failing really so terrible?

The Stephens' don't think so - for every ten research projects they conduct they abandon nine. If they didn't walk away from those 9 ‘duds’ they would have had too much on their plates to focus on the one success. 

So, are those 9 ‘dud’s a total loss?

The Stephens’ say no because failure can provide valuable feedback. It gives you the knowledge and expertise on how to approach things moving forward and what works and what doesn't work for the next time. Knowing when to walk away is a challenge, but it’s nothing more than a temporary setback.

So, to sum it up: quitting can mean winning, and winners can quit.  But remember, quitting is not the enemy of success. And to be clear, this doesn't mean you should quit everything, but just think a little differently about what the cost and opportunity means to you and the consider the upside to quitting.