'Winners' Know When To Quit

Emily McDowell on the power of letting go of what's not working

We've all heard it said that "winners never quit, and quitters never win."

This formulation has many problems, including sorting people into "winners" and, presumably, “losers.”

However, the primary issue with this saying is that it isn't true.

“Winners" quit all the time. In fact, if you want to achieve whatever you consider to be success in your personal or professional life, it's imperative that you know when to quit.

The “winners never quit” maxim was reportedly popularized by Napoleon Hill, a controversial self-help author who is believed to have created the personal success genre. In Hill’s mind, a "winner" was a person who was professionally successful and wealthy.

For our purposes, let's just say that a “winner” is someone who makes decisions that get them closer to a life they find fulfilling. This could include quitting or not quitting, depending on the situation.

Like many people, I was indoctrinated with the idea that quitting was bad—something that "weak" people do. The fir…