Winners do not quit. Quitters do not win. Now, don’t take this too literally. You need to quit to win. Just need to know what to quit and when to quit.
I have students who once told me that they on a cross roads situation. They hated their job, and wish to quit. However, their bosses promised to promote them in the near future with the hope of better salary. A year had passed and there is no news of promotion. They decided to quit and move on to a new industry where they can pursue for a job where their passion lies rather than with their current one that they dislike. However, when their bosses learned about them wanting to leave the company, the promise for promotion and more salary been put planted into their heads again. And they stayed on for another year. Two years have passed since the last promise for promotion, and still, there is no news for promotion or pay increment. Why let someone hold you ransom for staying with a job that you dislike, with the hope to get promoted and be paid more for something that you hated. Does it make sense to you?
I have students who felt that they had studied the wrong courses. They felt that they should not be in finance, or engineering, or marketing for example. Which is one of the reasons why they are finding it a challenge to pass their exams for subjects that they dislike. However, they do have the option to opt for new subjects and change faculty to the one that they desire. The opportunity cost would be to forgo some of the subjects that they have studied, and have to study longer to complete their degree or diploma.
If you are in finance, and you wish to go into marketing, it is really going to put what you have studied to waste if you opt to change faculty? To me, I see it as stay on and continue to fail, or move on to something that you can do well in. Imagine if pass your finance degree. But you wish to venture into marketing, you will have to start all over again anyway. Which is going to cost you more in terms of money and time. Unless you are going to end up being in a finance role, doing what you dislike for your career. 8 years later, if you have decided to quit and start afresh on something where your passion lies, you would have wasted 8 years instead of just your schooling days. But I believe you will probably stayed on with the job that you dislike for the rest of your life if you have such mindset. You will never quit. Which means, you will never be successful. Or you will never be able to taste success with a smile.
After spending 5 years in accounting, I had switch from Accounting to Advertising. You might see that I had wasted 5 years of my life. I saw it as saving myself from suffering for the rest of my life doing what I dislike doing. To me, it is ‘cutting my losses’ as opposed to wasted effort. Am I a happier person now? YES, I am. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I had stayed on as an accountant. Would I have achieved all that I have today? Without passion, I doubt that I can go this far to be honest.
So when should you quit. When it is time to ‘cut loss’.
Simply put it this way, if you only need 5 ingredients to bake a cake. However, you have gotten yourself 8 ingredients, which mean you now have 3 extra ingredients that you do not need to bake the cake. What do you do? Use up all the 8 ingredients so that you do not waste any of the ingredients that you have bought. Or stick to your baking formula, use only the rightful ingredients, and ditch away the other 3 ingredients, as you are not going to compromise the quality and taste of your cake.
If it does not help you achieve success, quit. If it does, stay on. Stay for the money, you might make slightly more now but suffer for the rest of your life doing what you dislike. Stay for your passion and you have a chance to be rich and successful doing what you enjoy for the rest of your life.
Still, the choice is yours to make. Stay or quit, which one will give you higher chances of success should be your question.
