Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Quit

Quit what is sapping your energy and attention away from what you really want to be doing. We all have a limited amount of focus that we can give things. This is not a negative glass half empty thing, it's about using what you have well, marshaling resources.

If you've been working on project, but never seem to finish it, decide now whether or not you will finish it no matter what. A hard yes or no. If yes, then do it. If no, then abandon it utterly and abandon it right this instant.

Every molecule of attention that you spend on something you will not see through to the end is waste.

Bob Fraser, the accomplished actor, writer, producer and a dearly missed friend, father and husband, said in a seminar he taught:

Do not waste your time. It's all you've got, your entire wealth.

I have yet to imagine a way this is not true. All talents, money and other things evaporate in the face of time running out. So quit something now. Decide now, as you read this, what thing that you have been doing you will stop doing. Decide to stop doing it from this moment on. It can be as simple as unsubscribing to a magazine, or as effective as never smoking again. Use the extra time and attention on career, spending time with family, or simply as unstructured downtime (which is very important, but that's probably worth a separate post).

Seth Godin has written a book about when to quit called "The Dip", and it is available on Kindle and hardcover, and is a good, pretty quick read. Its basic thesis, and strong advice is: if you will quit at all, quit right now, if you will not, quit everything else that you can quit right now, and you'll get farther along with the thing/s you stay with for the long haul.

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this posted by David August at 1:02 PM 

comments: I just happened upon this blog...I like!!!

# posted by Anonymous Nina : 8:58 AM  

I'm glad. Good to have you here.

# posted by Blogger David August : 1:32 PM  

You are absolutely correct David! Brilliant blog.
And how amazing was Bob Fraser. I wish I had been lucky enough to attend a seminar of his.

# posted by Blogger IDoLovePictures : 9:28 AM  

Angela, thank you! I feel very lucky to have met Bob, and honored to have called him a friend.

# posted by Blogger David August : 12:42 PM  

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