When you already put in the money, when the invites have already been sent out, or when the caterer is already preparing it can be tough to cancel an event. "There's already so much that went into it, right? We can't cancel now!" - words never spoken by anyone that's planned an event.

When your job gets touch, when you start to feel under appreciated, when your bosses are being bosses and not leaders... "I shouldn't look for another job, I just need to stick it out, I've been here for so long!" - words never spoken by an under-appreciated employee.

Every commitment we enroll eventually invites us to quit or persist. The post you're reading now is about knowing when to quit.

Have you ever heard of the sunk cost fallacy?

If you're planning a wedding/concert/event in a pandemic, and most of your attendees cancel because they got sick and what you're setting out to achieve from the experience can't be fully realized... it's time to quit. If you stick it out, you're not really executing the event for your attendees, you're executing it for your pride.

If you're in a job and you feel undervalued, your bosses treat you horribly, and you're hating your life - it's time to quit. If you stick it out, you're not really thinking about the people you serve, you're thinking about your pride.

Pride is a fickle friend.

Giving us validation that we're worth it - but also giving us a false-sense of validation to keep us same from the unknown - what if we cancel? what if I quit? what if we're out the money?

To counter pride, remind yourself: "Who am I doing this for? What am I doing this for? What is the change I am seeking to make? Why would anybody care?"

I imagine that if you ask those questions at the moment when sunk cost thinking is setting in, you'll likely see that the right thing to do for the people you're trying to serve and the change you're seeking to make is quit.