The difference between quitting and failure is bigger than the gap of the Grand Canyon.
I have had many failures in my life so far and I can only assume that I will have more still to come. I don’t get discouraged by that fact, because I know through failure I have grown in so many ways.
The Benefits of Failure
- We have an opportunity to try again
- We learn from our experiences and mistakes
- Failing is humbling and grounds us in our humanity
- Growing from failure gives rise to possibility
- Failure tests your resolve
- It is informative
- Failure builds character
I am very supportive of failure as long as it is used as a learning experience and becomes a platform for growth. Above I have listed multiple reasons why failure can be useful, yet I’ve not stated my stance on quitting. Before I viewed “quitting” as something bad. We constantly hear quotes such as:
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” ~Vince Lombardi
We often forget that the most famous people and the largest companies in the world have a tradition of quitting. Not just quitting, but strategically choosing the conditions in which to quit. This applies to Google, Apple, Microsoft and many more companies.
In the book, “The Dip” by Seth Godin; he dives into teaching us, the reader, “When to Quit (And when to Stick).” One of the most important insight that we can all use is:
Write down under what circumstances you’re willing to quit
In the book Seth pushes us to define those circumstances because he says, “If you’re making a decision based on how you’re feeling at the moment, then you will probably make the wrong decision.” I’ve been guilty of doing just that in the past, I quit based off my feelings and without an understanding of when would be a good time to quit.
You don’t quit because you’re losing the battle. You quit when you know you’ve invested more than you’ll ever get back from that investment. This has happened to me in jobs, education, relationships and life in general. I quit my first job out of Graduate School, because I had learned what I wanted to learn during my time there and I felt like I could earn more money. So I quit.
In my career in particular, I have designed it with the intention of playing the long game and learning the skills necessary in each position I have. Once I have met the level of skill that I want to acquire, I move into a new position. I start to reinvent myself.
I have known many people who stay in relationships because they want to “make it work.” I admire their tenacity to try to stick it out, sometimes though it’s for nothing. In September of 2017, I acquired my first iPhone an iPhone 8, a piece of technology that I have grown to love.
Unlike many, I was not an early adopter of the iPhone…
I instead was an early adopter of the Windows Phone. My first Windows Phone was a Samsung Focus, it had the Windows Phone 7 OS, which was slick and charming. The only real issue that I saw with the Windows Phone was the app store, when compared to the apps available on iOS and Android it quite frankly didn’t compare!
Recently, Microsoft officially pulled out of the mobile phone market in terms of having a Windows Phone. Yes, they will still have apps developed for their major product lines for iOS and Android. They conceded because their ROI – Return on Investment was no longer worth the cost of continuing to produce the product line.
Yes, I was sad! Yes, I had to admit to myself and others that iOS and Android had dominated the market and that Microsoft no longer saw it was profitable.
Even though they quit, I am excited for them.
Because they can align more people, talent and resources to projects that are profitable and thus move the needle forward. That’s exactly what quitting does for us… it gives us the space to realign our resources and energies.
I’m not saying that everyone should quit, I know that perseverance is truly something special. I feel we should understand when we should quit so that we can quit with the intention of focusing more intently on the pursuit of our vision.
We shouldn’t restrict ourselves to not quitting doing so may lead us to a Pyrrhic Victory. King Pyrrhus of Epirus had an army which suffered insurmountable loses in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC and the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC. They won the battle, but lost the war… which is the meaning of a Pyrrhic Victory.
In closing, I hope we can see that quitting and failure are indeed different and both aren’t necessarily bad. Failure is for learning and quitting when done with tact and strategy can enable us to realign resources to win the war.