Before I became a full-time freelancer, I worked for a couple of different companies. Both times I started a new job, it started out exciting and fun. Great benefits! Cool perks! Interesting work!
After a year or two, it got harder to get up in the morning and face an eight-hour day of doing whatever it was I was hired to do. By years three to five, the shine was wearing off, and finally it was clear that I needed to quit my job. I’d tried to make proactive changes, but it was time to move on.
Winners never quit?
This move-on point is what bestselling author Seth Godin calls a cul-de-sac in his book The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). He says when you hit a cul-de-sac (French for “bottom of the bag,” meaning “dead-end”), it’s time to quit. This sort of advice is quite unlike the winning and failing quotes we hear so often in our society, such as: