Episode 440: How do you know when it's time to quit?

Recently I received an email from a woman, let’s call her Jennifer, who’d read How To Stop Feeling Like Shit and had a question; specifically about how to know when it’s your inner-critic speaking about a new endeavor, or when it’s actually factual. Here’s her question: 

So, how do you know if it’s just you berating yourself or the possibility that you’re just not good enough? I mean, in reality, we have things that we are not meant to do no matter how much effort we put in.  So how do we know? When will we know? 

I am originally from the theatre industry. The pandemic gave me the chance to try out new things besides acting. So now, I’m in the marketing field, totally different from what I usually do, and trying my best to work my way up. There are doubts and failures along the way. So how do I know that they are just doubts and negative thoughts or that I’m just not fit for the job? How do I know when to give up? When to accept the fact that this isn’t for me? How do I know that something is just a fact and not a negative thought?

This is such a great question, one that I’ve struggled with myself and I’m sure many of you have as well. In this minisode, I’ll cover: 

• Seth Godin’s book, The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick). Seth has a great metaphor of a Dip and a cul-de-sac and explains what each is and how that can help you decide when to quit or stick it out. 
• A plethora of questions to ask yourself to get curious about your situation to hopefully get yourself to an answer. 
• The one question I ask myself whenever I want something big, and am not sure if I want to stick it out or not (it’s the question that led me to not continuing my college education to go to medical school). 

http://andreaowen.com/440