“Never, never, never give up.” ― Winston Churchill
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” – Vince Lombardi
I’m sure we’ve all heard at least one of the above quotes. Well, I’m here to tell you the opposite. You should quit, sometimes. We have the tendency to keep working at things even though they are not working out or when there are better things we could be doing with our time. History is riddled with events that could have been prevented if people had just quit. Had the Labour Party led British Government cancelled the Tanganyika groundnut scheme on time, they probably wouldn’t have lost the 1951 General Elections. Had Hannibal not attacked Rome after crossing the Alps despite losing a good number of his forces, he may not have lost the war.
“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.” – Vladimir Lenin
Strategic retreats can be helpful, they don’t have to mean loss. Sometimes, we need to take a step back and reevaluate our situations in order to make progress. Other times, we need to totally abandon what we are doing. The fact that you’ve invested a lot of time into something doesn’t mean that you should continue with it even though it’s not working. A winning formula can stop working and it would be foolish to keep on trying. If Blockbuster had switched on time and stopped trying to push the video rental service, they may still be in service today. So, stop doing things just because you’ve invested a lot of time in them, especially if you have no real interest in them or there are better things you could be doing.
By Ifeayinchukwu Achife