The Moment You Want to Quit Is The Moment You’ll Start Seeing Results

Just hang in there. I promise it’ll be worth it.

Quitting Sucks

Quitting is a problem we all face.

Take me for instance.

I enjoy working out. But it’s a side thing. And I don’t prioritise it as much as I should. And when I do workout, it usually means sticking to my regimen for a week or two, not seeing the results I want and then quitting.

Yay, go me!

But a couple days after quitting, I started to see results. My abs were more defined, my arms definitely got bigger. And for a bit, I felt great. Then I shrank back to normal due to not sticking with my workout plan.

And you might say, jeez, why don’t you just stick to your plan and keep on working? I ask myself that same question.

But it proves the point, the moment when you feel like quitting (or actually do quit) is the moment you’ll start seeing results.

The Plateau of Latent Potential

There’s even a graph made by James Clear literally talking about this same concept. He calls it the Plateau of Latent Potential. Fancy name.

See, the problem is we think progress is linear. However much effort we put in, we expect proportional results. Whereas in reality, progress is more exponential. You want to know that secret for success. Put tons of hours upfront, be patient and eventually, you’ll achieve that spike and see huge results.

The Moment of Wanting to Quit

The bigger problem is, and I’ll show it on the graph, is that getting through that slump or what James calls the ‘Valley of Disappointment’ is hard. And most of us end up quitting. I promise you whether you’re in business or writing or just life in general, you’ll experience what I call a Moment of Wanting to Quit.

And that moment will display itself right before you’ll see the big spike in results. Most people will think, Nah, I won’t give up. I’ll keep on going. I’ll persevere and be resilient and all that.

But what you don’t know is when you’re in that mental slump and feel like giving up, you can’t see 2 steps in front of you. What I mean by that is you lose all perspective and can’t think straight. Every fibre of your being just wants you to stop.

But what you’re body is telling you is wrong. When it comes to experiencing that mental slump, you need to understand that it’s just that. A MENTAL slump. Meaning it’s in your head. Once you realize it’s in your head, you’ll gain just a bit of that sense back into your brain and be able to push forward.

I’ll give you an example of this actually working.

This Actually Works

The other day I was studying for the SAT. (Yes, that SAT I know). And while doing one of the practice papers, I told myself, ok, I’ll get through 2/5 of the paper.

After completing those and getting ready to close my book, my tutor says, “why don’t you try the next part”. At first, I thought, ok, I’ll try it. But after looking at the paper and my eyes getting sore and my head pounding, I voiced my objections. “I don’t really feel liking doing it right now”.

And what my tutor said was, “You know it’s all in your head, right?”. I said, “What do you mean?”. She then asked me, “Did you eat?”. I said “yes”. “Did you get a good sleep?”. I replied yes. “Then you have no physical reason for being tired. It’s just in your head”.

Inspired by her words, I got through the 3rd section of the paper. Satisfied, I graded my work and was honestly surprised by the answers. In the 1st and 2nd part of the paper, I did ok. I got a total of 4 questions wrong. On the 3rd part, the part my tutor pushed me to work on, I got a fricking perfect score! Let’s just say I was not expecting that. But it just goes to show that pushing beyond that moment of wanting to quit will lead to incredible results.

The Lesson

So to wrap up this article with a nice little bow. Here’s a summary.

When experiencing that ‘moment of wanting to quit,’ you can overcome that mental block by acknowledging it being simply mental and not physical. Once you realize it’s in your head, you’ll gain just enough of that sense and resilience back into your brain to be able to push forward and reach those exponential results I know you deserve.

(P.S. My goal of writing on Medium is to give as much value as I can. In order to do that I would love to get feedback from those I value most. That’s you! So don’t be afraid to leave a comment :)