When to pack it in
Quit. It’s a four-letter word, and one that’s often treated like one of the worst of them. There’s a stigma attached to quitting. It implies failure, and all the perceptual baggage that goes along with failure.
But there are times when you’ve just got to cut your losses. What are those situations? Here are three situations, taken from my own experiences.
The effort doesn’t equal the reward
Long hours and low pay. Or doing writing a lot in a short time, but only being paid a pittance for each article. That wears on you after a short) while.
Sure, you’re not being paid much per piece but you’re making it up in volume. Even that volume, though, might not be worth it — you need to research, then write and edit each article. You might only be getting $10 or even $5 for a 500 word article. There are markets and gigs out there that pay five, 10, or 20 times that for articles ranging from 500 to 1,500 words. And you can probably research and write one of those longer pieces in the time it write a few of the shorter pieces.
It stops being fun
You started off enjoying a gig. At first, you were excited about what you were working on. But as the days and months wear on, your enthusiasm wanes and that spark you had has dimmed. Maybe you’re getting a regular cheque or PayPal payment, but you’re getting little or no satisfaction from what you’re writing. You’re doing just enough to get the job done and nothing more.
Worse, you’ll keep asking yourself a question like Why am I doing this? Stay in a situation like that long enough and that attitude will bleed into other areas of your work.
The money might come in handy, but in the long run is it worth it?
A gig is taking up way too much of your time
The money might be pretty good. It might be better than that. But in order to earn that money, you’re working a lot. Maybe even a lot more than you want or need to. On top of that, you might have other projects that you want to tackle. You don’t have the hours or the energy to devote to those projects. And there might be those inconveniences known as family and friends, who want a bit of your attention …
Again, it’s a matter of the money being worth it. This situation could be a tough one to gauge. You might be doing a lot of work, and being well compensated for it. But are you enjoying it, and is it fulfilling? And will those other projects bring in as much, or even almost as much, as that gig? Your answers to those questions will determine how you proceed.
When do think it’s time to pack a gig or job in? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Photo credit: Romashchenko Anatoly from
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Hi,
The problem is that we don’t fail enough.
If you want to be a chess grandmaster, then you need to play (and get beat 100s) of times to build up the critical mass of knowledge that’s required.
It’s when you don’t learn from failure, then you’ve got a problem.
Ivan
Ivan Walsh´s last blog ..Al Gore’s Gentle Guide to Killer Presentations
@Ivan, thanks for the comment. I’ve always said that you it’s how you handle defeat or failure that determines how successful you’ll be. Of course, if you keep failing either you’re doing something very wrong or not learning from your mistakes.