It’s a maxim in America to say that winners never quit and quitters never win.

Which is a lot of hooey. But it’s something that probably gets repeated a hundred times a day.

The reason I say that this is a dumb way to look at life is because the reality is that instead of never quitting, winners know when to quit.

I’ve written before about how everyone has, at the most, three or four things of crucial importance in their lives. They may not be aware that their lives are ordered by these priorities but they are.

Their priorities will not be mine. And a priority may be something as simple as dressing well or not working too hard, but whatever it is, these things guide our lives.

I’m a huge fan of knowing what’s guiding your life. Our lives are usually better and we get more of what we’re aiming for when we are conscious of those guideposts.

And some things we start, and they’re not congruent with what we want out of life. Sometimes we don’t realize that an activity is not a match until we’re doing it. And that, my friend, may well be the time to quit doing it.

Example: a work situation. People sometimes get a new job and immediately realize it’s a bad fit.

And most of the time, they don’t do the rational thing, which is to leave the job as quickly as they’re able. If you need the money, fine. Stay until you get a new job. Then leave. Explain to your soon-to-be-ex-employer that it didn’t fit. Don’t be a jerk. Give them the normal notice, work hard while you’re there, but leave. Life is too short.

It works for lesser things as well. Reading a book, and it’s not keeping your interest? Put it down. Maybe you’ll come back to it later or maybe not, but for now at least it’s obviously not important. There’s no crime in stopping after chapter two. (At the same time, don’t be lazy. If you’re exploring a topic that’s new to you, it’s going to be hard at first. You may need to plow through until you gain an understanding of the new subject. But that’s a different matter).

Winners do quit because winners know that life is going to have a certain amount of chaff, and getting past that chaff is necessary to get the important stuff done. Make sure you know what’s important to you, try to make your day to day activities match those important things, leave aside those that don’t, and you’ll find that your life gets more focused and better.