Brian Gubernick breaks down eleven reasons people abandon their goals: blaming circumstances, self-doubt, unclear purpose, pursuing the wrong things, taking shortcuts, overcomplicating, skipping small tasks, quitting too early, dwelling on past failures, mistaking progress for completion, and lacking accountability. He urges listeners to identify which patterns trap them and build safeguards.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Today and tomorrow, we are going to be talking about quitting, a rather special topic— quitting. We're going to talk around why most people quit today. And then tomorrow we're going to actually talk about when it might make sense to in fact quit. Why most people quit. I'm going to actually run through a presentation that I had an opportunity, it was a special opportunity to do about 4 years ago, except I didn't lead this presentation. My 2 daughters did. And they did it in front of our Metrics Masterminds group. And they shared what they found around why most people quit. Thought it'd be a good topic for today. Please just reflect on these reasons. Number 1, they blame other people or situations for what stands in the way. People quit because they believe that it's out of their control. They talk themselves into believing it's out of their control. In other words, They don't take ownership. They blame others. They blame situations. There are these obstacles. I guess I better quit. Number 2, why most people quit, they blame themselves. Specifically, they say, I'm just not good enough. I'm just not good enough. When someone says, I'm just not good enough, it provides validation for maybe tapping out, for quitting. Number 3, why most people quit. They do not have a defined purpose and have not set goals. Lack of purpose, lack of goals, which is code for lack of direction, lack of something you're passionate about, drives some individuals to quitting. When you don't know your purpose, you don't have goals, you have it— it's easier to quit, right? I had to quit. I didn't really have a plan. I didn't really commit to a plan. So quitting is no big deal. Number 4, they have the wrong goals. People quit because they have the wrong goals. You know, maybe they thought they had the right goals in line, you know, lined up, but they get into something and like, oh man, this is not where I want to go, or this is not what I thought it would be, and they quit. They would have set themselves up for success on the front end. It would have been a lot harder. To have done something different than continuing to get after it. Number 5, why do most people quit? Because they take shortcuts. Shortcuts more oftentimes than not lead to frustration. Frustration creates reason to quit. So people quit because they take shortcuts. Number 6, they take the long road. So kind of the opposite of shortcuts. They quit because they've concocted a path that's overly complex, takes too much energy supposedly, and they quit. They tap out. Number 7, why most people quit: they neglect the little things. They neglect the little things. In other words, certain things they decide just don't matter. They're not important enough. And these things stack up over time. And as a result, frustration or obstacle— obstacles come about and they quit. They neglect the little things and it leads to just a lack of desire to continue to persevere. Next, why most people quit, they just quit too soon. I mean, we've seen this happen. Maybe we've experienced it. They just quit right before success was about to happen. Maybe they just didn't have it in them anymore. They believed they didn't have it in them anymore, or they were out of gas. But if they just would have taken that extra step, gone that extra mile, they would have succeeded. Most people quit. Oftentimes they just quit too soon. Next, the burdens of the past overwhelm them. They get into something, they're making some progress, but then there's some sort of fear. Hey, I've, I've, I've failed doing this before. And it eventually, that feeling overwhelms them, or I've gone down this path and I've been disappointed. And that feeling's overwhelming. The burdens of the past overwhelm them. And so it justifies quitting. Next, they have illusions of success before they really succeed. This is a very common one. They set a goal, they set, they had set an objective, and then they get a taste of success. They get this illusion of success before they actually really succeed, and they quit too soon as a result. Things got too good almost too fast, and they became complacent. And that complacency leads them to eventually quit. Lastly, why most people quit: they lack accountability, lack accountability, or they lack a support group. People quit because they create, maybe intentionally or unintentionally, an island for themselves. And when you're, when you're getting after something day in and day out and you're all by yourself, It's really easy to quit because you're not accountable to anybody. There's nobody watching your moves. You start to feel like it's justified. So real quick, run through them again. Number 1, they blame other people or situations for what stands in the way. Number 2, they blame themselves. I'm just not good enough. Number 3, they don't have a defined purpose or have not set goals. Number 4, they have the wrong goals. Number 5, They take shortcuts. Number 6, they take the long road. Number 7, they neglect the little things. Number 8, they quit too soon. Number 9, the burdens of the past overwhelm them. Number 10, they have illusions of success before they really succeed. And then lastly, whatever number I'm on, is it 12? Lost count already. They lack accountability or a support group. These are the reasons why most people quit. Now I share these things with you today because if you're human, you have likely quit on something before. It may have been small, it may have been minor, insignificant. It may have been major, may have been, you know, you may have left a wake, you may have impacted many. Whatever the case may be, if you've been on this planet for a little while, you've quit. I bet that one of these reasons that I just ran through very much apply to you. Now, maybe quitting was right. We'll discuss that probably tomorrow. But these are the reasons why people quit. So what do you do with this information? If you are setting a goal right now, you are committed to this goal, you run through this list and you ask yourself, how do I make certain that none of these things will cause me to quit. For example, how do I make certain I have accountability so I never quit? How do I make certain that I don't quit too soon? How do I, you know, what steps do I take to make sure I'm not taking the shortcuts or taking the long road that would lead to quitting? How do I make certain that I've got a defined purpose? What are my goals? Are my goals right? Like, do I have the right goals versus the wrong goals? What could stand in my way? How do I take ownership over those things versus pointing my finger at others or pointing my finger at situations? See what I'm saying? It kind of goes back to that old law of inversion we talk about quite a bit here. These are the reasons why people quit. The focusing question for you Given your past experiences, where have some of these applied to, applied to the reasons you tapped out? Given what you're working on right now, how do you make certain that none of these things jeopardize your success? Part 1 of a 2-part series on quitting. I look forward to discussing this a bit more tomorrow. But that's all we have for today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day, brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.
