Winners don’t persist. They quit faster.

We’ve been lied to about persistence.

“Never quit” sounds noble. It also keeps smart people stuck in dumb commitments, stale projects, and energy-draining loops that quietly choke their future.

Here’s the truth no motivational poster will admit: high performers quit early, often, and on purpose. They don’t worship persistence. They worship progress. If something isn’t moving the needle, they kill it and reallocate energy to what does.

Quitting isn’t failure. Quitting is focus. The real mistake isn’t stopping. The real mistake is staying - when the signal is screaming to leave.

This email gives you a clean, repeatable way to quit strategically - without drama, guilt, or FOMO - and redirect your time toward compounding wins.

The “Never Quit” Myth Is Expensive

Persistence works when the path is proven. It’s catastrophic when it isn’t. Common traps:

• Sunk-cost loyalty: “I’ve already invested so much.” That’s a budget, not a strategy.

• Identity attachment: “I’m the kind of person who finishes.” Great. Finish the right things.

• Social optics: You’re performing grit for an audience that isn’t paying your bills.

Unexpected insight: The earlier you quit the wrong path, the less discipline you need for the right one. Friction drops. Momentum rises.

How to Know It’s Time To Cut

Use the DDD Test - three quick indicators to separate a dip you should push through from a dead end you should exit:

• Dread: You don’t feel challenged - you feel drained before you start.

• Delay: You keep “tomorrowing.” Real work resists avoidance; fake work invites it.

• Decay: Inputs stay high, outputs stay flat. Effort in, nothing out.

If two out of three are true for more than two weeks, you don’t have a grit problem. You have a quit decision to make.

Why Quitting Feels Hard (And Why You Must Do It Anyway)

• Loss aversion: Your brain hates “losing” the old thing more than it loves winning a better one. Reframe: keeping a loser is the bigger loss.

• Status narratives: “What will people think?” Short answer: not much. Everyone else is maximally focused on themselves.

• Hope addiction: “Maybe it’ll turn around.” Hope is not an operating system. Data is.

Counterintuitive truth: Quitting increases self-respect when it aligns actions with priorities. You stop betraying your future to protect your past.

Subscribe for Full Access