In it he states that one of the hardest things in business or in life is to know when to quit, when to keep going and when to move on to something else.
On the one hand, perseverance and grit are held up as key characteristics to achieving success in business or life. Anyone who masters their "work" craft will face moments of doubt and hit The Dip and some will quit and some will find the inner resolve to keep going. It's often said that f you want to build a successful business or create a great marriage or learn a new skill then “sticking with it” is perhaps the most critical trait to possess.
On the other hand, telling someone to never give up can be terrible advice.
Successful people give up all the time. If something is not working, smart people don’t repeat it endlessly. They revise. They adjust. They pivot. They quit.
As the saying goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Life requires both strategies. Sometimes you need to display unwavering confidence and double-up your efforts. Sometimes you need to abandon the things that aren’t working and try something new. The key question is: how do you know when to give up and when to keep going?
One way to answer this question is to use a framework called the 3 Stages of Failure.
- Stage 1 is a Failure of Vision. These are WHY mistakes. They occur when you don't set a clear direction for yourself, follow a vision that doesn't fulfil you, or otherwise fail to understand exactly why you do the things you do. And it must come first. No Vision. No future
- Stage 2 is a Failure of Strategy. These are WHAT mistakes. They occur when you follow a strategy that fails to deliver the results you want. You can know why you do the things you do and you can know how to do the work, but still choose the wrong what to make it happen.
- Stage 3 is a Failure of Tactics. These are HOW mistakes. They occur when you fail to build robust systems, forget to measure carefully, and get lazy with the details. A Failure of Tactics is a failure to execute on a good plan and a clear vision.
I'll go into greater detail on each of these in a later blog post.
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