When it’s ok to quit.

// The way I see it.

The last six months have been hard for me - I was working effectively two jobs for long periods and I was coping through daily consumption of alcohol - all was well in the first few months as it was an easy coping mechanism.

As things wore on, it started to get the better of me - I was draining the battery.

You know your iPhone battery - when you keep charging it over and over again, the capacity drains.. well, this was me.

I was the metaphorical battery and every night, I’d try to charge it up but every day, I would be draining that battery a little more every time.

The battery capacity just couldn’t keep up and eventually and I was burnt out.

Something had to give.

So I made the very tough decision to quit,

Quitting shouldn’t always be thought of as a negative thing, sometimes it’s an act which can be seen as a huge positive - one that moves you from one place to another.

// Your wellbeing.

If something is negatively impacting your physical or mental health, it's absolutely okay to quit and stop doing it.

This could be a toxic relationship, a stressful job, or a harmful habit - just like my relationship with alcohol was detrimental to my health in late 2023. It was very important to realise that stopping this habit (which was hard at the time) was to my benefit - drinking every single day (Monday night through to Sunday night) was slowly but surely pushing me to the brink of burnout.

You must have felt it - those long weekends of drinking.. when you’ve had a heavy session on a Friday night and then you meet up with friends on the Saturday and they offer you a glass of wine.. except, your body tells you that you don’t want it.

That’s your body saying no but your head (and your peer pressure trigger) says yes and so the cycle continues - we’ve all been there, and we end up regretting it on a Sunday morning.

Prioritizing your well-being, whether that be mental or physical is crucial, and quitting in such situations is a sign of strength, not weakness.

When I quit alcohol for a while, I felt stronger and I actually could see clearly - I understood what the triggers to my drinking were and that allowed me to make some conscious choices and then changes to my world.

// Your goals.

In the middle of 2023 (I wrote about it back in August) - I had a coaching session with Christophe Stourton and during a 3 hour session, we looked at what the future looked like, where I wanted to be and then what actions I needed to take to get there.

I drew myself on stage, I drew myself in charge of a video first agency and I drew myself in a creative space. There were other areas of my life which I drew - my wife and I on holiday, a representative figure of money which would make me happy and my kids being healthy but the vocational goals really stood out to me.

As you grow and evolve, your goals, values, and interests may shift - this happened to me. I was working in a job which would not give me fulfilment over the long term. Yes, of course I was earning enough money, I was experiencing international travel on another level to any other job I’d had and I was in charge but I wasn’t being fulfilled creatively.

I love creating, I love being creative and I want to be recognised for my creative work but selling valves will never let me do that.

When you realise this and your goals have changed, it's perfectly acceptable to quit pursuits that no longer align with who you are or what you want to achieve.

Quitting in this context allows you to reallocate your time and resources towards new goals and dreams that better reflect your current aspirations.

I’ve changed jobs and I’m moving closer to where I want to be - it’s about being aspirational, not quitting for the sake of it.

// Fun? Or Work?

When I first joined SAFI Valves, I was being tested - I had never run a company before and this was a step up from my previous role - I wanted to run a company and have every department aligned in such a way so that everything complemented the sales team and therefore, it would lead to growth.

I loved it - I was being pushed and I was fulfilled.

Over time, as I slowly ticked off the things I hadn’t experienced before, I was fulfilling my dream of running a company and I was pushing myself further and further outside my comfort zone but the more I ticked off, the more I realised I wasn’t being tested anymore.

I began to search out more and more work to try and push myself - unfortunately this pushed me into areas that I didn’t want to do. I was pushing myself too hard to get the next fix of ‘new work’ and the scope of this new work wasn’t creatively fulfilling for me.

Life is too short to engage in activities or commitments that don't bring you happiness or a sense of fulfillment anymore and if, like me. you find yourself consistently feeling drained, bored, or uninspired by something, it's okay to let it go.

Quitting can create space for new opportunities that ignite passion and joy in your life - by knowing what you don’t want to do, you can focus more on the things that you do want to do.

I love the saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life again” - it’s something we should all look to do - things that excite us.

Sales, content, video and meeting new people are the things that I see as fun.

// Not staying the same.

We’ve all been there - we all have tried the same thing over and over again, only to get the same results.

It’s the definition of madness.

If we’re trying new things and it’s just not happening or we’re doing the same things over and over but we’re not getting results then it’s ok to quit.

Mark Masters talks often of a failed ‘launch’ of his You Are the Media franchise in Bristol which was disjointed and poorly run (thanks to separate event hosting on Eventbrite and poor marketing) but he recognised when it was ok to step back and say enough was enough.

We never want to keep doing something if it doesn’t serve us.

Sometimes, staying committed to something can hold you back from reaching your full potential - the You Are the Media event in Bristol failed originally but has since relaunched in a different way and has been successful.

Without the failed attempt and subsequent quitting, Mark would never have learned his lessons over what works.

Whether it's a dead-end job, an unproductive project, or a stagnant environment, quitting may be necessary to break free from what’s holding you back and allow you to go after growth opportunities elsewhere.

Embracing change and stepping out of your comfort zone can lead to personal and professional development - it’s worked that way for me and I’m sure it will work that way for you.

// Follow your gut.

Sometimes it’s not as simple as not reaching a target or not fulfilling your potential, sometimes all it takes to quit is a gut feeling. An intuition that you’re not being congruent to yourself.

Take this newsletter for example, when I first started, I was experimenting with different content styles and when I was trying different methods of writing, I would write listicles, how to guides and some really simple posts. I didn’t have the audience feedback to tell me that these blog posts weren’t very good and I didn’t have any indications other than my own gut feeling that these blog styles weren’t what I wanted to write.

For those of you that have been here from the start, I made a promise after my 10th blog post that I would not write those style posts ever again and that decision was made purely because I felt it was the right decision.

Trusting that gut feeling is essential when making decisions about quitting.

If you have a persistent gut feeling that it's time to move on from something, it's wise to listen to that inner voice - it means something doesn’t quite fit right, it’s not where you want to be.

Your intuition often signals when a situation no longer serves your best interests or when better opportunities await. Quitting because of your intuition can lead to new paths and experiences that align more closely with your authentic self - it will make you feel whole.

//Wrap Up

Quitting isn’t ever a bad thing - it has this negative image because we’re trained to stick with things as a kid. We’re told that practice makes perfect and that it will all be alright in the end but sometimes, it won’t be especially if you’re health is taking a hit and you want to make sure you’re able to live another day.

Quitting is a way to move from one place to another in the quickest way possible and that’s what we all want - to continually evolve to be a better person or live in a way which aligns with how we want to live.

Dreams are built in our minds but society says that we should keep working on those dreams regardless. I’m telling you the opposite.

Quit if you need to and get to your dreams quicker.