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- Why Quitting Is Good
Have you thought about quitting?
Is there a way to 'quit' to discover better things for your life?
I remember asking for an Uber one day.
The driver was the same age as my brother and me (21yo at the time).
We started talking about business, and the driver said that young people like us shouldn't take the risk on it.
I got confused because, at this age, I had just discovered online business.
The guy was in college, but he didn't like college, so he dropped out.
He took some risks and opened a restaurant business with a friend.
Things were good at the start, but then his friend started using the money in the wrong way:
Alcohol
Girls
Entertainment
The guy obviously got disappointed with his friend, and when things went wrong, he quit.
He returned to college to continue a career he didn't like but was comfortable with.
Plus, he started doing Uber to get back the investments he had made for the restaurant.
With this small experience back in 2021, I realized how most people just quit.
They start a new endeavor because they want a better life, but as soon as things get difficult, they quit.
Now, no one is perfect. No one chooses the right thing to do and discovers their passion right off the bat.
But what if there was a way to 'quit' to discover better things for your life?
No, I am not talking about giving up on your dream life.
However, there's a way to 'quit' in a smart way and get the results you want faster.
Learning to 'smart quit' helped me make my first $10k online, all because I identified that quitting is actually an option.
Types Of Quitting
Quitting
The first type of quitting that I've noticed is the one made by the Uber driver:
He started a business
He faced a hard challenge
He returned to his comfort zone
This is the real quitting, the one that makes you give up on your vision.
We obviously know that we don't want this type of quitting in our lives, but it's good to have the reminder.
Shiny Object Syndrome
This type of 'quitting' is the one we hear all the time on YouTube.
Creators explain that most people start a certain business model, but when things get difficult, they switch to a new business model that looks easier.
There's an image that explains this:
In the image above, we can see that we always start something with uninformed optimism.
At first, we find a business model that is presented to us as an easy thing that anyone can do. Part of this is because marketers know that 'easy' is the best way to hook people into their content, ads, products, etc.
After we get hooked on the 'easy' thing, we decide to buy and give the business model a try.
But as with all things in life, things start to get challenging, and we get into the informed pessimism phase, where things don’t seem as easy.
We continue anyways, going down to the valley of despair:
We face difficulty
Things don't seem as easy
We hit the 'informed pessimistic' stage
Two things can happen here:
We either push through difficulty (and aim for informed optimism)
Or we jump into a new shiny object that looks easier than the current one
Shiny object syndrome isn't as bad because at least you're figuring out your way to success.
The problem is that most of the time, we get into shiny objects because we lack a clear plan.
We lack intention, we feel confused, and that makes us delay our results because we try too many different things.
The problem here is not having your own project to work on.
Pivoting
In sports, "pivoting" refers to a movement where a player - typically with the ball -rotates around a fixed foot (the pivot foot) while maintaining contact with the ground, allowing for changes in direction and position.
Pivoting is more about adapting because not everything will go as planned. It’s about doing things differently - like using different resources, skills, or approaches to achieve your vision within one main personal project.
Your personal project has one goal: to achieve your vision.
The good thing is that your vision doesn't have only one correct path to achieve it.
It can have several options:
You identify something new you want to do
You see if it fits your personal project and vision
If so, you start testing it and get direct experience
After this process, you can decide whether you want to continue or not
You are not dependent on the side hustle or business model.
You can rotate the fixed foot (the skill or business) while maintaining contact with the ground (your personal project), allowing for changes in direction and position.
At the end of the day, your vision contains the things you want to do and the things you don't want, so it makes sense to start testing things and discover what your true interests are.
Pivoting allows you to do so.
How I Pivoted And Made $10k
Shiny object syndrome is a real thing that happened to me.
I didn't have a personal project at first, just the normal goal of making money online.
I tried several business models:
SMMA
Youtube Automation
Appointment setting (first $450)
Copywriting
Affiliate marketing
In the whole time I learned to be disciplined, consistent with my vision, and made my first bucks online.
But I wasn't really building anything for myself, I was just jumping from one thing to the other without a clear direction.
This is why a shiny object is tricky; it can teach you some things, but it can also get you stuck in a cycle.
However, one day, I decided to start posting content on Instagram and build myself a personal brand.
It turned out to be my first reliable success online:
I started working as a freelance video editor
I had my first viral video on Youtube
I created my first info products
The whole thing made me around $15k by the end of 2024.
Then, I realized that I was working on my own personal project, and it was bringing me results pretty organically:
The reels I was posting
The tutorials and YouTube videos
The free and paid resources I was creating
Everything was part of my personal project.
All my actions now had intention and now I would continue testing things until I get closer to what it is that I want to do.
That's the beauty of pivoting: the things you build have intention behind them; you're not doing things just for the sake of money.
Your Personal Project is how seriously you treat your life to achieve your vision.
I explain how to create your Personal Project in this newsletter, feel free to check it out.
How To Smart Pivot
To smart pivot, observe your current situation:
Where are you investing your time & energy?
Are those things connected to your vision?
If not, what can you do to pivot into things that do?
These questions are important because they allow you to recognize whether or not you’re going in the right direction.
For me, I observed that I was spending a lot of time and energy sending messages that no one was reading.
I could’ve continued, but I ‘quit’ and started using the same time & energy to create reels.
The results?
Clients for video editing.
For you, it could be about your job, a business model you’re trying to grow, or anything you’re doing right now.
If the thing you’re doing is genuinely adding value to your life, then it's all good.
But if it isn’t, consider:
Building a Personal Project
Creating plans to move towards your vision
Start taking action on the plans
If you have to smart pivot, do it; your personal project allows you to do so.
It’s good to start something and commit, but it’s silly to continue if you’re in it just for an external reward like money, status, or some other superficial thing.
I honestly ‘quit’ building a marketing agency because - even though it could help me create my dream life - it wasn’t aligned with what I want to do.
I want to seek truth and wisdom and only intentionally work on things that fulfill my soul.
At the end of the day, we don’t really know how long we’re going to be hanging out on Earth.
So it’s good to do your best to discover what you truly want to do.
That’s where I am right now:
I ‘quit’ video editing
I want to focus on writing now
I have a new offer to help freelancers
Video editing was bringing money, but not fulfillment.
And I choose fulfillment over all, even if I’m not making much money now.
I know I will eventually do, If I stick with truth.
Plus, my life project is up and running because it wasn’t dependent on video editing.
That’s the beauty of creating your own life.
You do what you want, no strings attached.
That’s it for this one, I hope you liked it,
Pablo.
P.S. Reply to this email if you want to ask anything or just chat. You can also reach out to me on Instagram, I’m doing free calls with the people on my chats.