Summary

There are three forces that preclude us from quitting even when prospects for success seem out of reach. The first is the advice we’ve heard all our lives – don’t be a quitter. Secondly, it is difficult to justify abandoning a project given the resources and efforts that have been used in trying to achieve success – referred to as “sunk costs” in economics. The third factor is the lack of focus on lost opportunities while trying to salvage a losing proposition. The losses from a project can be seen in black and white. The value of the untapped opportunities is unknown.

Quitting a failing project and freeing one’s time up for other opportunities is not being a quitter; it’s being a realist. Many projects that begin with high hope that fail should do so without blame and...