Quitting is Leading Too

You may be surprised to learn that this is a quote from Nelson Mandela; he certainly isn’t known as a quitter. For the most part, those of us who serve as change practitioners are not quitters either.

While the circumstances we face are certainly not as harsh and unrelenting as those Mandela faced, we can find then challenging, even as we seek to persevere. Yet as Traverse Bradbury wrote in Six Things You Must Quit Doing Today to Be More Successful, “sometimes quitting is necessary to overall success.” Here is Bradbury’s list.

1. Quit doubting yourself.
2. Quit putting things off.
3. Quit thinking you have no choice.
4. Quit doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
5. Quit thinking everything is going to work out on its own.
6. Quit saying “yes.”

It is likely that some, though perhaps not all, of these are present as you undertake your work as a change practitioner. And, each of them has the potential of significantly undermining not only your success, but the success of the changes—and the leaders—you are supporting. As you look at how you may further your professional development, perhaps the answer is not in more training, but in looking in the mirror, identifying, and then working on, those things that you need to quit.