Personal Disruption: 5Qs to Determine if You Should Give Up or Keep Going

In my latest Harvard Business Review piece I focus on an important question — Should You Give Up On Your New Dream?

No one wants to declare their dream dead unless it is, in fact, dead. But if yours is on life support and you’re channeling valuable resources into a flat-lining cause, you may need to recognize the inevitable.

How can you know when it’s too soon to give up?

In the HBR piece, I focus on five questions that can help you reality check your situation. For those who are wondering about the final question 'how do I know if I am gaining momentum', see the infographic below. (Thanks to Juan-Carlos Mendez for thinking through this 'momentum' indicator' with me.)  

The goal at the end of the exercise, whether through the infographic or the five questions below, is to check in with yourself and your dream — are you on the low end of the curve with growth gradually accelerating or are you looking at a pattern of decline?

As marketing guru Seth Godin retorts, “Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.” 

Here are the five questions that can help you gain further insight and take a more holistic approach to determining what stage your dream is in:

• Does your business (or position in your company) occupy an otherwise unoccupied niche?

• Are you playing to your strengths?

• Based on your answers to the previous questions, have you assumed the right risks?

• Do you find your work difficult but not debilitating?

• Are you gaining momentum?

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You can read my full Harvard Business Review article here: https://hbr.org/2016/01/should-you-give-up-on-your-new-career

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