On Giving Up

Creative people. Sigh. We’ve all been there, silently telling ourselves to quit. That we’re not good enough. And yet sometimes we trudge onward, saying yes to all of the tasks, as if to validate that we can actually do these things.

But here’s the thing… the problem isn’t really about what you can or cannot do, it’s about when you can do it. Which isn’t all at once. Creative people (such as yours truly) have a tendency to get greedy and stack all of the things, one atop the other, until there is no more room left to breathe.

What do we do then? What should be done when we are suffocating under the weight of everything we have sworn to create and deliver?

We quit!

Now, hang on a second - maybe instead of quitting everything and crawling back into a hole, wrapped up in failure, we work on knowing “what to quit”, and “when to quit it”. Consider your stack of tasks. Is there anything on there that can be moved to another point in time? Are there any tasks that don’t feel like the reward is worth the amount of work you will put into it? Find one thing, and pluck it from your list. Just wipe it out. Then take a moment to rethink the priorities, take a breath, and dig in.

Trying to take on too many things is a dangerous road that leads to having everything crash to the ground. Be kind to yourself, and let your creativity gravitate to fewer items, and you’ll help prevent bigger problems from coming down the road later.

I also highly recommend that you check out a book by Seth Godin, called The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (this is an affiliate link).

Keep it up! Remember, you’re amazing!