| How do I know when it’s time to walk away? | Sometimes you have to quit, lose, or switch lanes in order to win. That doesn't mean it's easy, though. Use these questions to help you decide whether it's time to walk away or time to stick to the path you're on. |
Walking away is difficult. We’ve been taught that quitting is for losers, a thing that leaders, fighters, or winners never do. Grit, tenacity, persistence are qualities we praise. We try to avoid letting go and giving up.
Here’s the thing: you do need to let go sometimes. It’s a necessary step to achieve great things.
Sometimes you have to quit, lose, or switch lanes in order to win. That means you need to be comfortable with the concept of letting go. Whether you are questioning your role in an organization, a project you manage, or that Twitter/ X account you’ve been holding onto, it’s healthy from time to time to consider walking away.
When it comes to making strategic decisions, letting go can be just as impressive as starting something new.
Probably one of the most anxiety-inducing questions is the personal one: should I keep doing the job I’m doing?
Leaving a job is a big decision, whether you’re thinking about leaving behind an entry-level position, moving to a different role or organization, or retiring. There are personal and financial consequences, and there is a lot to consider.
Your job isn’t the only thing you can quit, of course. You can wind down a project, give up familiar campaign tactics, or change the tools you use. Those are common acts of letting go. Even with small changes, it’s natural to mourn what you’re leaving behind and to fear the unfamiliar path ahead.
No matter how big or how small your choice is, one thing is always true: the best path forward is rarely well-signed. You don’t always know for sure that it’s time for a change. You can’t be certain that the new way will be better than the old way. This un-knowing can leave you feeling stuck for months on end, unable to make a change but unable to commit fully to your old ways.
It doesn’t have to be quite so difficult.
In my line of work, we get a lot of questions about when to let go — from career to technology to campaign tactics. There’s never one right answer. What’s best for you depends on your unique goals and values.
There are, however, five questions anyone can ask to help make a choice that works for them. If you want help thinking through your decision, answer each question in turn and see where you land:
Under normal circumstances, you should be pretty confident that you’ll achieve your goal if everything goes to plan. After all, that’s why you’re here. But if there is a glaring flaw in your plan, better to pivot.
People, projects, and organizations all have needs that must be met if the work is going to continue. It’s okay — even healthy — to know what those needs are and to be honest about whether or not they are being met.
Sometimes the idea of what you’re getting is better than the reality; in theory, the experience should be meeting your needs, but in reality, it just isn’t. Other times, you’ve outgrown a situation; it was great once, but it’s no longer working.
There are usually several different ways you can achieve a goal. Life is short and resources are limited, so your task is to follow the shortest path to that goal.
In some ways, absolute failure is easier to navigate than mediocrity or mere survival. There is a clarity that comes from extreme circumstances that makes decision-making easier.
It takes a little bravery to look at a “meh” situation and figure out if there is a way to achieve better results with the resources you have or to achieve the same results with less effort.
Jobs and tools, like people and organizations, are not perfect. They all have quirks and annoyances that add friction to your day. Some of this friction is inevitable, but it shouldn’t overpower the good that you’re doing.
What are you giving up in order to create impact, both as an individual and an organization? What money and time are being spent, and what else could you be doing with those resources? Are you creating new problems along the way? Those are all questions that will help you figure out if the benefits of your work are worth the price you pay to do it.
You have personal goals and values. So does your organization, and so do the companies and partners who help you get the work done.
It’s okay to outgrow a project or an organization. Goals evolve as you progress, which means that you, your organization, and those partners will fall out of sync at some point. That’s natural.
Values can change, too. We’ve seen this a lot in the last year, with companies and politicians swinging hard from one agenda to another. When values change, behaviour inevitably follows suit.
Just because you think you might want to make a change doesn’t mean you should definitely make that change. You don’t have to act on every idea that you consider.
Here are three signs that you should stick to the path you’re on:
Most social impact work is done in the face of uncertainty. Doubt, anxiety, and worry are part of the job as well as being being human. It’s important to ground your decisions in what’s true and real — not just what you worry about, or what you fear, or what looks easier from afar.
Doubt often masquerades as wisdom. Don’t let it fool you. Don’t make big changes without data or objective information to ground you.
Social impact work can be hard, and to-do lists can be infinite. The sense that you can’t keep up is one the hallmarks of impending burnout; it’s also a normal Tuesday afternoon. If you’re still motivated by the mission, try at least one different approach to the work before calling it quits.
This is partially to protect what may have been a good idea or a project, and partially to protect you in the long-term. If your skills or team culture or tools weren’t up to a job, those issues won’t always be fixed by pulling the plug. Unless you make a major change, issue will follow you to the next role or project.
People often talk about binary options: quit or continue; keep doing it, or stop doing it. There is a third option, too. It’s called failure.
You can try to do something and not succeed. That’s not a bad option. In fact, this is sometimes the wisest thing to do.
If you’re thinking of wrapping something up because you don’t want it to fail, don’t be so eager to sink your own boat. Fear of failure is usually worse than failure itself.
I asked a Stanley Cup winner once, “Did the team know how good they were? Did you know you were going to win?”
His answer has stuck with me:
“No. We didn’t know how good we were until we’d won.”
In the moment that you’re doing the work, you cannot know for sure what will happen. The ending has not been written. If your strategy is sound, your tactics make sense, and your heart is in it, there’s still reason try.
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