Quit on Purpose

HuffPo Quit. Go ahead. It’s okay.

NYT Sometimes You Have to Quit to Get Ahead

Forbes When It’s Okay to Quit (psst Forbes, it’s always okay, even when it’s done for the ““wrong”” reasons)

Find me at Exgifted.com or Instagram @exgiftedcast

Music

 Kawai Kitsune by Kevin MacLeod

 Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4990-kawai-kitsune

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Problem?

Perfectionism:

Perseverance is morally neutral

BUT - some things are worth the effort

Gifted kids often end up on one extreme - quitting everything or being terrified to quit anything. 

And ridiculously high expectations don’t help, they just add to the stress. 

What can we do about it?

• The trick is to quit the things that are just taking up your time without adding to your life in a way that’s meaningful to you, while committing to the things that really matter to you, even when they’re hard.
• We don’t need to become better versions of ourselves, and perseverance won’t do that anyway because it’s morally neutral.
• 
  
• We just need to become versions of ourselves who spend time and effort on the things that matter to us while maintaining the mental space to enjoy those things.
• 
  
• How to quit
• 1. Make a list of the things you are going to absolutely commit to doing, starting (or continuing) right now
• 2. Review the list regularly and recommit to every item on it.
• 3. If there is an item you don’t want to recommit to, answer the question “What changed?” in detail. Make sure your brain isn’t trying to talk you out of something you still care about.
• 4. If you want to put off something on the list, stand up, go to the mirror, and as yourself why. Once you stand up it’s usually easier to just do the thing anyway!
• 
  
• Don’t even worry about “quitting” things that aren’t on the list because you never even committed to them. Not everything is do-or-do-not level of importance.
• 
  

About the Ex-Gifted Podcast:

If you are a former gifted kid who grew up to struggle with basic adulting, then you need the Ex-Gifted podcast.

 Host Ren Eliza talks about gifted kid burnout, and the damage that lasts long into adulthood. Damage like battered self esteem, decimated internal motivation, and a continued failure to live up to expectations even while we were placed on pedestals and alienated from our peers.

 Ex-Gifted will cover failure, procrastination, imposter syndrome, and chronic anxiety and depression, and a whole lot more.

 Each episode also offers suggestions to deal with your executive dysfunction in adulthood so you can rebuild the systems that allowed you to shine so brightly in...