Bait and Switch

Even when quitting gets a good rap, grit gets all the glory.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

When it comes to personal narratives, there is a glorification of grit that I find really frustrating. I think all of us can easily tick off dozens of examples of successful people touting grit as the secret to their success.

But the ones who credit quitting? Crickets.

As Thomas Edison said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” 

I could just as easily argue that our greatest weakness lies in not giving up, at least not giving up in the face of clear signals that it would be the right choice. If the thing you are doing isn’t getting you to where you want to go, quit. Walking away will free up all that time and energy and money and effort so you can devote it to something that will help you to achieve your goals.

The real secret to success lies in sticking to the things that are worthwhile and quitting all the rest. It’s true that you can’t succeed without grit. But it’s also true that you can’t succeed without quit.

Yet grit gets all the glory while quitting is treated as taboo.