\u200bQuitting is usually seen as a sign of failure. If you start a project and give up halfway through, the fault lies with you\u2014not the project or the obstacles surrounding it. After all, patience, persistence, and grit are highly prized at the office.<\/p>\n
But sometimes, quitting isn\u2019t synonymous with failure. It can be the best choice for you, your team, and your employer. Deciding to walk away before you\u2019ve reached the end may save you precious resources, energy, and time.<\/p>\n
How do you know when you\u2019re prematurely cutting your losses versus quitting while you\u2019re ahead? Read on for four signs you should call it quits.<\/p>\n
1. If your priorities have changed<\/b><\/p>\n
Every time your priorities shift, you should reevaluate how you\u2019re allocating your efforts. The highest-priority items should receive the most effort. If you\u2019re working on something that\u2019s no longer a top priority\u2014and you don\u2019t have the bandwidth to do it all\u2014drop the least important or least-timely projects.<\/p>\n
For example, maybe your manager asked you to spend 20% of your time mentoring junior developers. Two months into your consulting job, your deadline to complete a redesign moves up. To meet this new, more ambitious due date, you need to stop working with the less-experienced developers (at least temporarily).<\/p>\n
2. You don\u2019t know the purpose<\/b><\/p>\n
Occasionally, we get stuck in autopilot mode. You might keep plugging away at an initiative simply because at one point it seemed like a good idea. However, if you don\u2019t know why you\u2019re still working on it, it\u2019s probably not worth investing in.<\/p>\n
Ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the outcome I\u2019m aiming for?
How does that outcome play into my larger goals?
Will this project or task affect my success in this role?<\/p>\n
Unless you have compelling answers to at least two of those, quit the project.<\/p>\n
3. The costs don\u2019t justify it<\/b><\/p>\n
Thanks to the sunken cost fallacy, quitting once you\u2019ve begun is irrationally hard. For example, if you\u2019ve read 200 pages of a book, you\u2019re likely going to finish it\u2014even if you don\u2019t like the book.<\/p>\n
Try to fight this psychological bias by looking at the additional investment required to complete the project compared to the ROI. To give you an idea, maybe the best-case scenario is wrapping up the campaign in three months. You\u2019ll probably generate half of the cost of your time in revenue. It\u2019s clearly not logical to continue.<\/p>\n
4. If you haven\u2019t made any progress<\/b><\/p>\n
Have you been unable to make any headway? That\u2019s also a red flag. Without any momentum, your project will stall indefinitely. Not only is that undesirable in terms of results, it\u2019s also bad for morale.<\/p>\n
Review how much progress you\u2019ve accomplished recently. If you\u2019ve hit at least one milestone, ruled out a potential idea or avenue, acquired new, important information, and\/or solved a problem, then you\u2019ll probably continue to move forward. On the other hand, if you\u2019ve applied elbow grease and gotten nowhere, consider doing yourself a favor and quitting.<\/p>\n
While quitting is always hard, sometimes it\u2019s the right thing to do. If any of these four signs are evident, consider walking away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u200bQuitting is usually seen as a sign of failure. If you start a project and give up halfway through, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-consultant"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n