Grit or Quit

When is it okay to quit and when should you keep trying?

Achieving our goals in life and business requires perseverance, passion and commitment over a long period of time. That’s grit. However, not all goals are created equal. Choosing one goal over another could be the difference between a life of immense fulfillment and one of regrettable suffering.

I recently read two books which (based on their titles) seemed like they would have little to agree on: Grit by Angela Duckworth and Quit by Annie Duke. The central question in both was the one above. What I discovered was that while both authors approached the question differently, their final answer was the same.

Whether we see them as such or not, our goals are organized into a hierarchy. Small goals with timelines measured in hours or days are at the bottom, and large goals (which often encompass smaller ones) with timelines measured in years or decades are the top. For example, one of my small goals is to run every single day. This goal is encompassed by my slightly larger goal of staying physically fit. And that goal is encompassed by my even larger goal of living a healthy life. The diagram below illustrates the idea of goal hierarchies.

While hierarchy details such as number of tiers, number of high level goals, and timelines may differ for each individual, there is still always a hierarchy. Low level goals are usually a means to an end and high level goals are usually an end in themselves.

The answer to the grit or quit question that Angela and Annie converge on is this: grit is defined by our ability to hold onto the same high level goals for long periods of time. Being gritty is not at odds with quitting on low level goals which are only a means to an end. For example, if I suffer an injury that makes it hard for me to run every day, I shouldn’t continue running every day just because I’m not a quitter. Rather, I should realize that running every day is just a means to staying physically fit and look to replace running with another low level goal that serves the same purpose (such as swimming). If I did that, I’d have been gritty with respect to my high level goals and a quitter with respect to my low level ones. And that’s productive.

Some amount of perseverance is still required for low level goals. If you quit on running every day after your first day, you should probably give it more time. The point and my takeaway from the two books is that our perseverance should increase with goal size.