3 Reasons to Quit a Project

With award season, I tried to digest as many of the movie contenders that were easily accessible on streaming.

• Dune – I was done after 5 minutes.
• Drive – I tried three different times and just needed to drive on by.
• King of the Dog – Yikes! Depressing and awful; never made it past 12 minutes; a dog of a movie for me.
• The Lost Daughter – I invested over 45 minutes and was still lost

And, when it came to books:

• The Portrait of the Thief – Critics raved that it was like a new Ocean 11; not even close; it just stole my time.
• Hello Transcriber- Goodbye, transcriber.
• The Family Chao – I called it The Family Ciao!

The point is that my time and your time is precious. Just because you start something, doesn’t mean you have to finish it. Ignore the critics; ignore Hollywood. And when it comes to business, employ the same policy. If it’s not working, stop!

The bigger implication here is that quitting a project is often a fab idea. Here are 3 reasons to quit a project:

1. If You Already See It’s Failing – Perhaps your mom said (mine did), “that’s like throwing good money after bad.” If you’re running Facebook ads, for example, and you are already seeing that your click-through rate is awful, stop! You either have the wrong message or the wrong medium.
2. If The Fun Factor is Gone – I live for excitement, challenges….and fun! Running your own business and taking work you don’t like is a sure-fire recipe for burnout. Every single time I took on a project because I needed the money, it cost me more in the long run. Morale of the story: pick the best clients and projects.
3. No Results – Most of us try a host of different marketing tactics: e-mail marketing, podcasts, blogging, and media interviews. But, if you’re not seeing the results you want, put your efforts against efforts that work.

Don’t forget: quitting isn’t admitting failure; it’s just making room for better ideas, projects, and innovations. Quitting something also means you gain something: time, happiness, satisfaction, or fun.