The pitch is unplayable

The majority of sport governing bodies have regulations regarding pitch conditions.

Therefore, on matchday, if the grass is too waterlogged, or if the ground is too frozen, or if there is a hurricane on the way the game is called off.

These regulations are put in place to protect the players.

The thing is, you don’t have to be a governing body to apply this concept.

In fact, you might be able to protect yourself by specifying your ‘quitting conditions’.

The runner who quits the marathon after breaking her leg is wise.

The runner who continues to run on a fractured femur because he can’t bear the shame of being a ‘quitter’ is going to cause himself excruciating pain and long term damage.

The benefit of writing down your ‘criteria for ceasing’ is that you save yourself an enormous amount of mental anguish.

If every time your book proposal gets rejected you spend a month wallowing in self pity, agonising over whether you REALLY want to be a published author or not, then you need ‘specifications for stopping’.

Quitting conditions make the decision simple.

‘I’m thinking of quitting’

‘Have the conditions been met?’

‘No’

‘Well then you continue’

The other thing about crafting ‘dimensions for desisting’ is that most people don’t want to give up.

They want to make it!

So as soon as they write down their quitting conditions they flake into the work! They get off social media and start brainstorming ways to prevent the quitting conditions coming true.

Could you benefit from ‘quitting conditions’?

Here are a few examples if you’re interested:

If by 2025 I don’t have 1,000 followers then I quit.

If I haven’t sold a single painting by my 100th painting then that’s it I’m done.

If I’m still living with my parents by the age of 40 I will stop trying to become an actor and become an accountant.