When a ship is sinking I’m one of the last ones to get off no matter how bad it’s gotten. I know this. I have done this on many projects. Things go from bad to worse and yet I continue to hang on to the slight sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, things will turn around. Maybe I’ll stop being stressed out. Maybe this time things will be different.
When I commit to projects I commit whole heartedly with the intention of seeing the finish line. Couple this with the habit of just wanting to help people out and to see them succeed and you have a bad habit of taking on bad projects and not getting out fast enough.
If you are like me then you understand just how hard it is to stop something once you have committed to it.
I once worked on a film project and at the time I was eager to just get some work so I said yes to the project. I also said yes to a lot of other things that were ridiculous and stressed me out until I finally said no, left the project, and breathed fresh air.
So when did I know things were going to be bad?
The second after I committed all these things came to light and I realized things were going to be bad fast. It started with a bad leader, an undeveloped concept, and bad communication and when from there.
But I’m not a quitter so I refused to quit. Sometimes we really do need to quit. The only thing I regret is not quitting sooner.
Sometimes we need to realize when the ship is going down and to get off of it as fast as we can. They say quitting is not an option, but I think is some cases it is the best option. Things that cause us an enormous amount of stress can be good or bad, but you have to decide if the end game is worth it. In my case it was not.
Knowing when to quit is just as important of knowing when to press on.
The Me Year 