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Happy Saturday!

Today, we’ll be discussing how to quit something without losing, and more, in just 4 minutes to read 📖

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Persistence is not always the best decision.

If you feel like the choice between persevering and walking away is a close call, it’s likely that quitting is the better choice.

Quitting effectively, when the context warrants it, ought to be the definition of a happy ending. It’s hard to see it that way because we process quitting as a failure.”

— Annie Duke

HOW TO WALK AWAY WITHOUT LOSING 

Grit — a virtue or a curse?

We stick to things that we don’t succeed at all the time.

Sometimes because we believe that if we stick with it long enough, it’ll lead to success. Sometimes because we’re scared of the uncertain consequences of quitting.

Other times, we stick with it because winners don’t quit. Many unhappy people think they’re the problem, while the problem is what they decide to stick to.

A former professional poker player, Annie Duke, shares that success isn’t about sticking to things at all costs. It’s about picking the right thing to stick to.

Our society often teaches us that quitters are losers who fail because quitting shows a lack of character. The cover of Forbes magazine celebrates successful people who go for it all, disregarding the obstacles in their way.

We admire those who show grit. As Annie Duke says: “While grit can get you to stick to hard things that are worthwhile, grit can also get you to stick to hard things that are no longer worthwhile.”

The sunk cost effect 

Sometimes, we recognize when we’re wasting time or money, but we continue on. We don’t want to quit, because we fear we’ll waste what we’ve already invested, clinging to hopes of recovering our money and time.

But Duke considers that spending as another minute or another dollar wasted on something that’s no longer worthwhile.

If we’re stuck in a relationship without commitment, while commitment is all we’ve ever wanted, we should quit and find someone who would be equally excited to commit to us.

If we stick to a job that causes us nothing but stress and anxiety and puts a hard stop on our growth and fulfillment, we should reconsider whether it’s worth continuing.

This issue of sunk-cost bias is particularly acute when it comes to our finances. Loss invokes a visceral emotional reaction, amplifying our likelihood of making poor decisions.

If you bought a stock at $80 and it’s trading at $50, you’re in the red, but as long as you don’t sell, you could feel that you still might recover the cost and bounce back. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves.

The invisible gorilla

One famous study illustrating that fixation on a goal can cause us to miss what’s right before us is the invisible gorilla experiment, conducted by Harvard psychologists in 1999.

Participants watched a video of a group of people passing a basketball, and they were asked to count the number of passes. In the middle of the video, a person dressed in a full gorilla suit walked around the court.

When the participants were asked whether they noticed anything unusual, if they saw anything other than the players, and whether they saw a gorilla walking across the screen, more than half of the participants (56%) answered “no” to all of the above.

They were so focused on a specific goal that they didn’t see the obviously out-of-place gorilla roaming the basketball court.

If the participants couldn’t notice a gorilla walking around, how can we objectively notice when to stop pursuing our goals?

Embrace uncertainty

Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and economist, said that the worst time to make a decision is when you’re in it. This is why planning how to behave under certain circumstances could save you much trouble in the future.

Making decisions in real life requires embracing the uncertainty of what happens next and what would have happened if you stuck to it.

Having the option to quit increases your chances of finding something worth pursuing and allows you to maximize your well-being.

Here’s what to think of before taking on a new goal

1. Persistence is not always a virtue – it can lead us to both victory and misery, depending on whether we see the signs along the way.
2. Making a plan for when to quit should be done a long time before to ensure we stay objective and keep our emotions off the table.
3. The real goal of climbing Mount Everest is returning safely, completing a goal at all costs can lead to harmful consequences.
4. Think in Expected Value will help you make a better choice by determining whether any option you consider is going to be positive or negative in the long run.
5. Make your Kill Criteria where you note down states and dates: If I’m not in a particular state on a particular date, then I have to quit.

Dive Deeper

Read Quit by Annie Duke, and learn how to walk away without losing.