Why giving up is sometimes better
Why giving up is sometimes better
"He who sticks with it gets to the top" is true but can be dangerous. I'll show you a simple trick how this won't happen to you.
Hi everyone!
I hope you had a productive week so far.
Enough is enough. Persevering is good, but sometimes stopping is better and leads to success.
Why is it so hard to let go of old goals, jobs, and love?
How do you restart at the right time?
Let's get started👇
⏰ The dogma of our time
🪝 Perseverance
🏋️♂️ Why giving up is so heavy
✅ How to fix that
🤝 Closing words
⏰ The dogma of our time
"He who sticks with it gets to the top" is the saying.
It is challenging for us to deviate from plans. Staying stubborn is a dogma of our time.
I mean, who wants to fail voluntarily?
In all areas of life, persevering is good, but quitting can sometimes be better.
An astonishing number of people hold on to losing stocks until ruin, as studies show, or to extinct relationships.
We often hang on to a plan for too long. The fear of hitting hard prevents us from jumping off.
I just realized: Once you've made it, you'll find that you usually land more gently than you thought.
🪝 Perseverance
Few skills have shaped and advanced humanity as much as perseverance. Without it, we would be much further behind than we are, so many things would not have been invented or discovered.
Persistence is a significant factor for success at work and in relationships.
Moreover, our brain does not reward many things with as much dopamine and other endogenous feel-good drugs as those moments when we finally complete a project or cross a finish line against all odds.
We hold on to it to the tragic end even though we can't win anymore because letting go costs the brain energy.
Indeed, you have heard of the 10,000-hour rule. It says you can reach the top in any discipline with 10,000 hours.
However, students in the wrong course of study often struggle, or managers burn themselves and millions in fruitless projects.
🏋️♂️ Why giving up is so heavy
Once we have set ourselves a goal, the brain switches to autopilot.
Success messages are overrated, and criticism, setbacks, and anything that could take us off the path fades out.
Brain scans could trace how the "prefrontal cortex," like a kind of bouncer of the brain, sorted out unsettling information and allowed confirmations to pass, on the other hand, and was marked as an encouraging reminder.
This is good because it is the only way to achieve our goals and implement our plans.
But it can also backfire. It is a vicious circle that has already put a lot of power, money, time, and energy into a project and pumps more and more into it to avoid everything before it is in vain. It is also called the "sunk cost trap" in science.
Goals provide people not only with tasks but also with identity. To separate from them is, therefore, equivalent to a psychological earthquake.
30-50 percent of our daily actions are automated, which is favorable regarding metabolic biology. Giving up and rethinking, on the other hand, costs a lot of energy.
Letting go of important goals appeals to the same brain areas as physical pain. In both cases, a neurotransmitter is released that researchers also call "substance P"; P for pain.
The signal that enough is enough does not come automatically from the brain but is a gut feeling.
But how do you recognize that it is enough?
One indication is that one should reconsider the chosen path when everything is just overcoming. Studies in the USA have shown that the will tires like a muscle. The consequences can be chronic exhaustion or despair. It helps to question goals again and again.
✅ How to fix that
Only in this way can you even recognize the bad news or signs when you reflect repeatedly.
You should ask yourself two key questions:
Is the effort worth it?
Is there still a chance to reach the goal?
Instead of looking into the past, you should evaluate the future costs and profits. Letting go frees up energy, time, and resources for something new.
🤝 Closing words
Of course, you don't have to completely abandon your old goals when you realize they are no longer leading anywhere.
You can also lower your standards and recognize limits. Giving up takes courage and time.
So take your time and draw the line well-considered. Maybe I could encourage you today that sometimes you have to change direction to move forward to the top.
Thanks for reading.
If you need help or want to give feedback, please DM me or comment below the post.
I wish you a productive week.
See you next time!