Member-only story
It’s a lie, sometimes. “Don’t give up! Don’t quit! Keep going!” The trick is to know when to stick with something, and when to walk away. Here’s a little story; if you’ve ever had children, it should sound familiar.
My son screamed in frustration, set down the game controller, and began pounding his fists on his knees.
“If you’re not having fun, stop playing.”
That’s what I used to say to my sons when they tried over and over again to master the next level in a new video game.
“You saved your money so you could buy that game. You worked very hard for it, because you knew how much joy it would bring you. So play the game when it’s fun, but when it stops being fun, turn it off and do something else.”
This week, I got an “adult reminder” of this childhood truth.
I was talking to a good friend out on his warehouse floor. He’s a successful entrepreneur who built his business from nothing. His company is now national in scope; large enough that if he just shut the doors, the shortage of certain material supplies would be felt all over the country while his competitors scrambled to get manufacturing levels up to meet the demand.
But, he has a problem.
He told me that his business is growing great, but the adventure is gone. It’s…