WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER STOP TRYING AND WHY I’M WRONG

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results.

We often hear the phrase “Never give up” and to an extent it’s true. There will always be 101 reasons not to give up and push yourself but sometimes it may be better to stop.

‘Goal disengagement’ is a term used when a person withdraws effort and psychological commitment from a goal when a goal cannot be achieved.

Here is an example, I’m a writer, my goal through writing is to motivate people and help them overcome difficulties. If I have been writing for over a decade and my writing isn’t helping anyone I can do one of two things, change my writing style and my methods or give up writing and choose something else. If I give up I’m seen as a failure for “not trying enough” if I continue writing I’m not helping anyone. The simple solution for this is- it’s MY CHOICE. We often think we don’t have a choice in situations, but we ALWAYS have a choice. It’s like getting stuck between a rock and a hard place, you have got to choose one.

Now, there are many reasons why people give up in situations,

• We overestimate or underestimate ourselves.

• We get lazy.

• Our desire isn’t powerful enough.

• Or we fail.

Failure is seen as losing, but it is just an error in a plan. Throwing the towel when you fail can be a good and a bad thing depending on how you see it.

Giving up can have two meanings,

1. You are trying to gain or achieve something and despite your efforts, you’re reaching nowhere so you give up and move on.

2. You hit rock bottom and you’re at the bottom of the ladder and you choose to stay there.

Not trying to lift yourself after a setback and choosing to stay down is the real problem.

All I’m saying is KNOW YOUR LIMIT. It’s good to push yourself and test your limits but not so hard that you reach your breaking point. When things don’t work out find ways to make it work but also be flexible enough to make adjustments when needed.

Another interesting example I found is in the book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. In the ‘gold fever’ days a man went digging for the vein of gold ore, he used the equipment needed and reached nowhere and gave up. When a mining engineer did some calculations he found that the man stopped three feet from the vein. Hence, the moral is never give up. He learnt from this and ended up being a successful salesman.

In an alternate world, the man kept digging and surpassed the three feet, found nothing but did not give up and spent the rest of his life digging for a vein of gold that was never there.

The man CHOSE his actions, there is no right or wrong in these situations. What you need to take away from this story is that the man learnt from the failure and then chose to not give up.

Make sense of facts, know your likes and your dislikes. Through your journey learn from every setback, figure out what’s your limit, what works for you.

Figure out who you are, push yourself just enough to excel and when things don’t work understand giving up and trying something else is alright. However, when you reach rock bottom don’t choose to stay there, that’s the only ‘giving up’ that won’t help you.

Nothing is right or wrong, it all depends on you. Have limits, set boundaries that help you grow not to pull you down because after all, what’s the journey without the end, right?

Plan things. Don’t overthink. Just work.