3 Levels of Quitting

I heard this some time ago and want to revisit the concept.

There are 3 levels of quitting:

1 The first time you quit something it is hard...really hard.

Most people don't like to be known as quitters. It takes a lot to walk away from something that you started or at least that is how it should be. Interesting that when I was in 1st grade I quit youth wrestling cuz I got my face wiped all over the mat. Today I train a lot of ground in martial arts and train some of the top wrestlers in the state of Minnesota and also write for one of the top NCAA wrestling coaches in the game today. Coincidence? Doubt it. It's back to haunt me and force me to deal with some childhood memories. Amazing that some seemingly small circumstance can subconsciously control us when we are adults if we do not put it in the proper frame of reference.


2 The second time you quit...it gets a little easier.

Each successive time you choose to quit softens you and your tenacity. Don't give up. You will conquer your fears only if you see it through. Thousands to possibly millions of people are setting their 'New Year's Resolutions' as we speak saying 'I'm a gonna do this and I'm a gonna do that starting the 1st of the year." I challenge you to NOT be one of them who forgets what the resolution is by the end of the second week of '07 including all forms of dieting and exercise. It's best to enlist some accountability from a friend or hire a trainer or business coach. Amazing how accountable we become when we put money on the table.

3 The third time you quit...that's what you are. A quitter.

The more you quit the easier it becomes and then a host of habits creep into your life that you may not even be able to recognize since you are 'in' it constantly. A difficult habit to form is persistence especially if you don't have experience in sports. Not that sports are the end all. However, sports do teach persistence. There is always an individual or a team that is better and gunning for the top. Somewhere someone is practicing and when you meet him in head to head competition, he'll beat you. When you think about quitting, you might be one training session away, one deal away, one person away from the mother lode. Stick to it and see your goals through.

We've all quit something in our life. Maybe it was OK because your plate was too full. In that case, you were probably in the right. Make a habit of sticking it out. You never know what will turn up on the other side. You might just chalk one up to: learning experience :)