Quitting is massively underrated.

Especially in tech and entrepreneurial spaces, we idolize a specific kind of resolve: the founder who never changes direction, never takes no for an answer, and who wills their idea into existence.

There is obviously something admirable about persistence, but I think we often confuse persistence with refusing to update our beliefs. Some of the most important decisions I’ve made have been decisions to quit.

I have quit:

- jobs I loved

- jobs I was good at

- jobs with bosses I respect and admire to this day

- my PhD program

- sports I loved playing

- countless hobbies and side projects

- friend groups -- some healthy, some not

At the time, each of those could have looked like a failure of grit, a lack of resolve, or a sign that I didn’t have enough “motor." But looking back, most of those decisions were overwhelmingly positive.

Quitting gave me back time, created optionality, and opened up opportunities for things that were more aligned with my interests.

For example, I loved studying physics. But when I realized it was no longer my passion, and at points not even enjoyable, I left and became a machine learning engineer. That was in 2017, just as ML was heating up in industry, and I’ve been fortunate to ride the AI wave for the last 9+ years.

I think quitting, done well, is about self-awareness.

- noticing signal

- removing distractions

- correcting course when new information arrives

I think people should quit more things. Try more things, evaluate them honestly, and then quit some of them deliberately. Not recklessly, but often enough that your life reflects what you are currently interested in.