What to Do When You Want to Give Up | Simon Sinek

When I was writing Leaders Eat Last.

I got to the point where I couldn't do.

Was too difficult. I couldn't organize all the information. It was just too complicated. I couldn't do it. And I'd been trying for months. I probably missed multiple deadlines. And I was sitting at my computer, and I decided that I had to give up. I couldn't do it. And so I got up and went for a walk, and I was literally planning my exit. I was going through the steps. I was going through the checklist of quitting. I knew that I have to give my advance back to the publisher because technically I'm in breach.

I knew that I would be humiliated, but I was preparing myself for it and that I would get over it. I was also rationalizing that it was okay to quit. I told myself, There are thousands, 10,000 books published every single year. No one will miss this one book. And I literally went through the steps to prepare myself for what I had to do to quit. I'm not sure why I did this, but I called a friend of mine who at the time was in the Air Force Special Forces. And I don't even think I said hello. When he picked up the phone, I simply asked the question, what do you do when you can't complete the mission? And as is his habit, he just started telling me a story. He was a helicopter pilot, and they had a mission in Afghanistan that was a suicide mission. All the intelligence showed that the air defenses were just too great, and none of them were going to come out alive. And it wasn't going to be one of those kill Hitler missions where we. We're all going to die, but we'll kill Hitler. This is like, we're all going to die, and the mission will also fail. And he was preparing his helicopter for this mission, and his wingman turned to him and said, what do we do? We've got wives, We've got kids. Do we refuse to go? What do we do? And my friend turned to him and he said, this is what we signed up for. We go.

He asked me, he said, is this book more or less powerful than Start with why? I said, the research has impacted me greater. It's more powerful. He says, all right, I'm going to tell you a funny story. Before I met you, I'd become disillusioned with the Air Force, and I was going to quit, and I found this kooky little book called Start with why? And it completely re inspired me, and I decided to stay. And I'm a better leader now than I. Than I was before because of that book. And if you're saying that this book is more powerful than the first one, then we need this book. He said, this is what you signed up for. You have no choice.

Clearly, his mission was scrapped.

At the last minute. The underlying message of this is what you signed up for. You have no choice wasn't a mean message. The underlying message was, and I will be here with you. The underlying message was, no matter what, you can call me at any time. I've got your back. And that's the important part. I turned around, went back to my desk, and finished writing that book. Not that night. I mean, it took me months, but.

I never thought of quitting ever again. As soon as I knew that someone was there, someone had my. Someone had my back.