The late great Vince Lombardi said, “Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing.” Winning is hard. Quitting is easy and unfortunately, once you quit something the first time it becomes easier the next time something gets hard. That’s how you develop a habit of quitting. I like to insert a sense of humor in the topics I write about but it’s challenging to find humor in quitting but I will do my best.
If you quit ONCE it becomes a habit. Never quit!!!
– Michael Jordan
If you want to be successful, quitting is not an option. You need to burn the bridges, burn the boats; don’t give yourself any other option. The only way to fail is to quit. If you make up your mind that you will succeed no matter what, then you will succeed. It takes a strong-minded person to make it through any challenge because it’s gonna get hard and you’re going to struggle. Your struggle will be more mental than it will be physical and yes you might go through some physical pain but a strong mind will get you through it. Struggling is part of the process, but that is a topic for another day.
I wanted to start my blogs with this topic of quitting because if you don’t have a strong mindset and are not willing to develop a strong mindset then there’s no sense in beginning any journey. It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to lose weight, reduce your body fat, make more money, or improve a relationship. You will go through some tough times on your journey and if you can make it through, the reward will be great.
Did not exist in 1989.
I had a good friend, Gene, who was a Marine pilot and was killed in 1991 when his helicopter crashed during Operation Desert Shield. I never forgot this one conversation that we had about getting lost. Back then we all didn’t carry around little computers in our pockets or drove cars that had GPS systems installed and it was easier to get lost. After all, it goes against the man code to ask for directions. Gene asked me one day if I was ever driving somewhere I had never been before and felt like I was lost. I said, “All the time.” Gene said he would always turn around and head in the opposite direction only to realize he was going in the right direction in the first place. Then when he arrived at the place where he first turned around, the place he was driving to was less than 1/2 a mile away in front of him or around the next corner. He said this happened to him all the time. I have kept that memory all these years because it was a lesson in succeeding even though at the time it was just a conversation between friends and had nothing to do with success. I feel that most people quit on their journey to success and make a U-turn back to their old life right before they reach their final destination.
When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.
– Zig Ziglar
I believe the number one reason that most people quit anything is that it just got too hard. Your journey to success and overcoming the challenge that you’re facing might seem easy at first and you might have some initial success. It’s later on that you might face difficulties and the thought of quitting creeps into your mind. How do we keep going when it just gets too difficult? We think of the reason WHY we started on our journey in the first place. What was so bad in our life before that we made a decision to change. What sparked us one day to wake up and say, “I want something better?” If you have a friend or partner who’s going through the same thing, you can utilize them to push you through.
The thoughts of quitting are temporary but actually quitting lasts a lifetime. Whatever you’re going through someone else has gone through the same thing and maybe worse. They succeeded because they remembered their WHY, refocused on their goals, and kept moving forward. The harder your struggle is the closer you are getting to your goal. No matter how hard life is hitting you, you gotta keep moving forward. Take whatever it is giving you and keep moving forward. When you take the biggest hit, smile your grandest smile and keep moving forward. My train is like a boy band, it only has one direction.
“This train is moving on, you can get on, you can get off, but the train keeps moving on! We are going to the top of the hill!”
[…] around the wrong people will hold you back. You have to quit them. When I first started my blog I wrote a post about quitting. I wanted to revisit that post and talk a little more about the idea of quitting. I hope these […]