Look for alternatives to succeed

In the modern management environment, you are bombarded with concepts and philosophies such as, ‘positive thinking’, ‘if there is a will - there is way’, ‘effort always wins’, and ‘if you think you can - you will’. These are all good things to believe in because they help unleash the power in you.

Giving up is an act that often carries negative connotations. Phrases such as ‘never give up’ or ‘a quitter never wins’ instill negative connotations in us, but the truth is, you can’t win every battle or achieve every goal you set in life.

‘Do but don’t die’

Most successful and powerful people too have failed in certain attempts but the successes take precedence at the end, hence history doesn’t give too much prominence to failures - the failures of successful people are underplayed creating an untrue notion.

What is critical in life’s journey or business is that the moment you have enough grounds to believe that the original goal cannot be achieved due to whatever internal or external reason, you have to make a strategic move - or even take a u-turn to ensure no more money, time and effort is wasted on the goal that’s not realistic in the new operating environment. The pace and nature of change is as such that those who make the right move at the right time have the edge over the others.

Determining when it’s the right time to give up can be very subjective, since all situations should be considered individually to make a judgment, but learning where your personal boundaries and exit points are, can help you save time, money and energy.

Success

The same is true for business too. If your attitude is anything like mine, giving up on a goal or project is extremely difficult. You have invested a lot of time and money as well, so you’re determined to see it through and that’s the right way to do it.

While failure is undesired, ironically, failure is an important step to success, so knowing when to give up is extremely important, because it will impact your ultimate success. In reality not every goal can be achieved no matter what power you have.

Outcome

It’s important to keep assessing the conditions and progress made to decide if the ultimate outcome is success or failure. How do you know when to ‘throw in the towel’ (as its referred to in boxing) on something that you’ve been fighting to carry on with, despite finding it really tough? In life we have at one point or another experienced disappointment, rejection, frustration and hurt. A feeling of defeat is inevitable for every human being no matter what his profile or track record has been.

Why, then, do each of us, in our own path of life, probably start at the same point, with the same desire to achieve success in mind, reach different levels of success at the end of the process? Regardless of our financial, educational, social status and backgrounds, we have challenges that may lead to disappointment and despair. At the end of the day, it is not what happens that determines the quality of our lives; it is what we choose to achieve.

The idea is to never give up! If we can succeed in mastering our attitude and consistently build our strength of character, the result will change our course of life. Many times, it is not the external circumstances that determine our success in life, it is the ability to control our thinking process. If we are resilient, we can dramatically change our lives for the better.

The question is; are we determined to make that change? The change can be giving up the current goal and embracing a new one with a greater probability of winning. Giving up to gain more later is the right thing to do – such giving up is not failure but a change needed to succeed. It is not about giving up hope but giving up specific activities and taking on the new ones for faster and more beneficial returns.