On Episode 1 of Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump goes into a speech about the evils of quitting.
Sometimes quitting is wrong. In particular, if you are very young, you have to be careful. It’s usually better to finish out your stint in graduate school, a tough job, or even the military or Peace Corps. Leaving early can create scars that never quite go away.
But sometimes quitting is the right thing to do. I know someone who quit law school after two years. She didn’t want to generate a mountain of debt. She realized she would be miserable practicing law. More important, she had an alternative that made more sense. Today, she says, she’s earned much more money and been much happier than if she had finished law school.
For her, quitting was like hitting the “restart” button on the computer. Sometimes when things aren’t working right, they sort themselves out with a “restart.”
There’s a reason we have the expression “fish out of water.” A fish can’t live on dry land, at least not for very long.
If you realize you’re in the wrong place, do some reality testing. Talk to an impartial confidante. Hiring a coach for an hour can be a wise investment, saving you thousands of dollars down the road.
