Quit: The Last Principle of Success

By Stanley G Robertson

HAVE YOU EVER FELT EMBARRASSED BY THE FACT THAT YOU HAD TO WALK AWAY FROM A GOAL?

A professional football player quit during halftime. A military commander quit his troops to be with his family. People who quit are often ridiculed and shamed because we are a hyper-performance-based society where “quit” is a dir

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stanley G Robertson
• Release date: Dec 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9780578463995

Book preview

Copyright 2019 by

Stanley G. Robertson

ISBN 978-0-692-04434-6

ISBN 978-0-578-46399-5 (e-book)

All rights reserved. This book is the property of Stanley G. Robertson. This publication may not be reproduced without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

CottonField Press

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contact info:

[e-mail]

www.thequitdoctor.com

312.715.7712

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Contents

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

STEP I DECIDE WHEN TO QUIT:

Why No One Has Ever Achieved Great Success Without Quitting

STEP II MANAGE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS:

How To Deal With The Shame Associated With Quitting

STEP III CREATE A NEW GOAL:

How Quitting Opens Up The Possibilities

STEP IV CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR:

Why Jigsaw Puzzles Are Preventing Your Success

AFTERWORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BONUS: YOUR FREE GIFT

FOREWORD

There are essentially two things that will improve your life – the books you read and the people you meet. Sometimes you meet people who not only can improve your life, but are also people you want to spend a lot of time with because they are cool, and Dr. Stan is one of those people. Whether his coolness emanates from his signature straw hat or from his easy, laid-back style, or his unbridled enthusiasm for what he teaches, I don’t know. But the first time he told me about his concept for the book Quit, I immediately knew it was something special. I was convinced he had discovered something that can change your life!

Dr. Stan’s book is about the power of intelligently quitting the pursuit of a goal when the pursuit of that goal no longer makes any sense. That doesn’t mean that everyone should just go around quitting when things are difficult or the next step is not obvious or clear. It would be a huge mistake to give up on your goals if the possibility exists for you to realize them. If your goal is still within reach, persistence is paramount. But the reality is that everyone is going to need to quit something some time.

In 1967, I was working as a social studies teacher at Calumet High School in Chicago. It was a rough school in a rough part of town at a rough time in history. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated during the spring of that school year, on April 4, 1968, and we had a full scale riot in the school the next day.

The next year I took a position at the Job Corps where I taught basic reading, math and job skills to women who had dropped out of school. I say women but many of them were just kids. They were 16 to 23 years old and mostly women of color. Life was tough for them. But neither racial conflict, crime, nor poverty was their biggest problem. What was? Low self-esteem! If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll never find the motivation to change your life for the better.

My own life turned around when W. Clement Stone—a self-made millionaire—took me under his wing and taught me many of the success principles I still use and teach today. W. Clement Stone helped me realize that my then-current job (teaching reading and math to kids in a Job Corps Center) limited me to impacting just 100 lives each year. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being a teacher, but I wanted to make a much bigger impact. So I quit teaching at the Job Corps Center, started teaching teachers, and eventually wrote the first Chicken Soup for the Soul Book.

Currently, there are more than 200 books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. They have now sold more than 500 million copies, and total worldwide retail sales of Chicken Soup for the Soul-branded products have exceeded $1 billion. My story is evidence that quitting can sometimes have a positive consequence. Intuitively, you might expect that giving up on a previously chosen goal may cause stress and trepidation, but, as Dr. Stan has pointed out, the opposite may also be true. Sometimes the ability to redirect your efforts and pursue new goals can lead to personal breakthroughs and higher levels of self-mastery.

My story illustrates the point that sometimes you might quit because your priorities have changed. But other times it might be a good idea to quit simply because you discover that your current goal is unattainable. It is important to your success to recognize this fact. If you’re going to be successful, you can’t live in denial. You have to face what isn’t working. You have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. That means recognizing when you are in a bad situation and doing something about it.

The danger in continuing to hold onto a goal that doesn’t work is that it prevents you from developing meaningful alternatives. There are times when people hold onto a goal that will never materialize. We all need a way to get beyond those things that are not working in our lives so that we can develop new, more attainable goals. That’s where Dr. Stan’s 4-Step Process provides a valuable roadmap to navigating the rocky road of quitting. To create an extraordinary life and achieve your highest vision, you need to be clear, present, and fully grounded when making important life changing decisions. This book will help you get there.

Jack Canfield

Coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

INTRODUCTION

A high school student was suffering from a neurological sleep disorder and kept falling asleep in class. She was faced with a difficult decision: submit to heavy medication or drop out of school. She decided to quit! She studied hard at home and earned her GED. She then enrolled in college, earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and eventually a doctorate.

A Marine Corps battalion commander was deployed to Afghanistan when a serious family emergency arose back home. Because he was deployed, he could not leave his troops in the field. The commander was faced with a tough choice; quit his command and return home to be with his family or remain with his