生活中還需要學會放棄
本期專題
作者：by David Pierce
I’m one of those people who’s terrible at saying no. I take on too many projects at once， and spend too much of my time doing things I’d rather not be. I get 1）stuff done， but it’s not always the best I can do， or the best way to spend my time.
That’s why my newest goal， both as a 2）professional and a person， is to be a quitter.
Being a quitter isn’t being someone who gives up， who doesn’t see important things through to the end. I 3）aspire to be the opposite of those things， and think we all should. The quitter I want to be is someone who gets out when there’s no value to be added， or when that value comes 4）at the expense of something more important.
I want to quit doing things that I’m asked to do， for no other reason than I’m asked to do it. I want to be able to quit something in 5）mid-stream， because I realize there’s nothing good coming from it.
A friend of mine once told me that “I knew I was an adult when I could stop reading a book， even after getting 500 pages into it.” 6）Odd though it sounds， we all 7）tend to do this. We 8）get involved in something， realize we don’t want to be a part of it， but keep fighting through. We say “well， I’ve already 9）invested so much time in this， I might as well 10）stick it out.”
I 11）propose the opposite： Don’t be afraid to quit， 12）regardless of the project 13）status or time invested. If you’re reading a book， and don’t like it， stop reading. Cut your losses， and realize that the smartest thing to do is stop before your losses grow even more. If you’re working on a project at work that isn’t going anywhere， but you’ve already invested tons of time on it， quit. Take the time gained by quitting the pointless project， and put it toward something of value. Instead of reading an entire book you hate， read half a bad one and half a good one. Isn’t that a better use of your time？