day 917: The Three Steps to Quitting

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

I was at a high school graduation party last weekend in New York for our youngest nephew and I happened to sit aside one of the family's long term friend who is now in his junior year of college.  He is double majoring in acting and business.  I joked with him that they were interchangeable and that his first major in acting might get him to the CEO job faster than the business degree.  He is concerned that he won't be able to make a living being an actor so he wants a fallback.  At the same time he wants to chase the dream and go as far as he can before he quits and falls back. My advice to him was to use my "Three steps to quitting" process.  First, I advised him to seek out the best friend he had in the world who would give him unconditional love, support and advice and who was also someone he would listen to no matter what and was beyond reproach.  Once he knew who that person was, he was to go to him/her and ask them to be ready because he was going to make them a part of his three steps to quitting.  What he needs them to do is the first two times he comes to them and says about his acting career, "I'm done, I quit", to tell him to "Shut up and quit whining", "Get back on the horse", "Get back in the ring", whatever it takes to make him not give up and give it another go.  And he was to listen to them each time.  And then, if there is a third time, this chosen person was to to respond to his their, "I quit", with a hug , unconditional love and praise for not quitting the first two times, and then help him move on into another career.  This young man looked at me when I gave him this advice and you could almost see the weight come off his shoulders and with a smile, he said, "I know exactly who the right person is for me".  The three steps to quitting avoid us making the permanent decision to a temporary problem too soon.  Consider your own three steps before anything is ever quit.

"...If we don't give up", Paul says to us. The operative word is "if".  God doesn't want us to be quitters and we shouldn't be if we want to live in His likeness.  He has never quit on us or quit on anyone or anything so why should we?  For believers, I would add another step to a decision about quitting and call it the 'three and three steps" and that is to take any and all decisions first to the Three who will always lead us in the right direction; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and trust that direction before reaching to another person.  In fact, we can never go wrong if we ensure that all our decisions are guided by stepping towards His wisdom before all others. Of course there are some things in life that are better quit than continued, but let's be sure that we are using all of our resources and relying on the right advice and wisdom before we just make the decision on our own.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)

day 783: Quitting

"Watch out, so that you do not lose the prize for which we have been working so hard. Be diligent so that you will receive your full reward."

I once heard that quitting was a permanent resolution to a temporary problem. I spend time with many executives who at different times and for different reasons consider quitting. We all do, right? There isn't any decision that we make that we won't at some point second guess or at least scratch our heads and wonder if we are on the right course or not? But, the decision to quit is a different decision. Quitting means that we are going to abandon the hard work, the money invested, and turn back on what we once said was important to achieve. We read about these decisions every day in the business sections of the news. Shedding a division, a product line, a competitive market, etc. are decisions that means that someone decided it was time to throw in the towel and go another direction. Quitting is not always the wrong decision, but as we enter into strategic directions, partnerships, hiring, and financial commitments, we have to be sure we have thought through each step as much as we can so that we don't start and then stop. I advise that we should always ask ourselves the question as to whether or not this is one of those things that would be better to never start than to start and stop. It's a good litmus test to be sure that starting and stopping doesn't do more damage than it should.

Our spiritual journey is one where each and every day we are faced with those things in our life that want to tempt and sway us from keeping our eyes on the prize. The promise that we are given is that if we don't quit, and we stay diligent that there is a "full reward" to be gained. We know as believers that the full reward is to live eternally in the presence of our Lord. In God's eyes, if we give up and quit, He hopes it to only be temporary as He takes us back each and every time. If we remain sincere in our journey, with our eyes on the prize of Him the rewards are beyond what we can fathom. I would also add that by not being a quitter that we are setting a model and living out the example of Jesus. As we know, He could have quit any time He wanted, but He didn't. When we persevere, and when we follow through, and when we stay focused, and when we don't look back, and when we progress with enthusiasm and hopefulness, others will see that something special in each of us. One never knows what and when that moment will come to explain to others why.

Reference: 2 John 1:8 (New Living Testament)

day 92: No Quitting!

We all have reasons and times to quit and leave our jobs. Sometimes it is the work. Sometimes it is the lack of progression or pay. Sometimes it is the direction and future of the company. Sometimes it is the people we work with and more often than not, it is because of our boss. Yes, all the research says we don’t really work for companies, we work for people and the most influential people are the people who we directly work for; our bosses. And if there is ever anything that wants to make you pack up the boxes, email in the resignation and stomp out the door, is when your boss is upset or angry with you and you know that he/she just doesn’t “get it” or understand or worse, want to take the time to really understand the situation at hand. So, we let it get under our skin, fester until we can’t take it any more and then we make the decision to quit, if for no other reason than we can’t stand working for that boss anymore. Sound familiar? This happens all the time and I would say that a very high percentage of people issue conversations I have had in my career have linked directly back to a bad boss/subordinate relationship. Many of these failed “relationships” ended up with the subordinate leaving the company in a huff and not feeling good about the company or themselves. Something that could have been fixed became the catalyst for a major life change. The Bible has so much to say about work, but I am guessing that you wouldn’t think, like I didn’t, that we are actually given a word about this particular topic. In Ecclesiastes 10:4 we are told: “If your boss is angry with you, don’t quit. A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes”. Amazing, huh? So the next time that your boss or your bosses boss takes aim at you and they are angry with you and you with them, know that you are to not let it get to you. We are to draw upon the strength that we find in our faith and let the quiet spirit and peace take us through this rough patch. The over-arching message I receive from this verse is that once again we are to tame our tempers and our reactions to the tempers of others, even when the tempers of others are so influential like they are when it is our boss. We are human but the reactions that we decide to allow of ourselves can have serious consequences or very positive results. The choice remains ours each and every day. If faced with this choice today, we now know how we are to respond.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 10:4 (New Living Testament)