Lara Nieberding

“Learning to quit while you’re not ahead is one of the best financial and life skills you can master.” ~Martha Beck (January, 2008 O Magazine)

This is one of those life lessons that  is so much easier to see in others than myself. I am very quick to look at another’s situation and think, ” why don’t they just quit?”  All the while, I cannot see it in myself.

One of the best investments I made is hiring a small  business coach.  Cristina Favreau has really helped me focus on what is best for my business.  One of the greatest things she has done for me is teach me how to quit.  I have to admit the first time she brought it to my attention I was working on a project that I was certain would have a large return on my investment.  I knew she was right.  I just could not bring myself to quit.

The second time she advised me to quit the project, I told her she was right.  Right then and there, I hung up the phone from our coaching session and I quit the project.  You know what?  My business picked up.  I still miss that project. However, the benefits of leaving have out weighed the stress of staying.

When I read Martha Beck’s example of the gambler and the “sunk-cost fallacy”, I realized that is what I was doing.  I was investing my time in that project certain the next day would be the big pay off.  The next day came and went with no pay off, never mind a “big” pay off.  At the end of the day I would tell myself, “well, I invested my time today.  It has to pay off tomorrow.”  Now that I have opened up the time I was spending on that project, the Universe has filled it with more prosperous projects.

Funny how quitting can make all the difference.