Woody Allen said that 80% of success is showing up. And while the power of simply showing up should not be under-estimated, showing up… in and of itself… is usually not enough. The key is to keep showing up! To demonstrate what we all know as persistence.
But is this to suggest that you should persist forever?
Should you take Winston Churchill’s famous war declaration (“Never, never, never quit!”) literally? No. Knowing when to quit is an important skill. In reality, the answer is usually somewhere between Woody and Winston and that goes for most everything.
The problem is that most people think that time has come long before it usually has.
We give up on our dreams before they have a chance to happen.
We give up on other people way before we really should.
But, when it comes to quitting or sticking with something in life, one of our favorite tests is asking: if you don’t achieve your goal would the attempt still be worth it? If the answer is yes, you absolutely should not give up.
If not, then maybe it’s time to re-examine the goal or dream in the first place. Maybe what you’re going after is not as important as you once thought. Figure something else out because you’re working out of habit for a vision you are really no longer interested in obtaining and you may stick around even longer than you should.
(Read the post, Doing What You Want for more clarity on this.)
Comments? Please let me know your thoughts. And if you liked this post, please share! – AW
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