Quit

Prologue The Gaffed Scale xv
Grit vs. Quit xviii
Wrapped in Euphemism xxi
Science Says xxiii

SECTION I The Case for Quitting
Chapter 1. The Opposite of a Great Virtue Is Also a Great Virtue 3
The Invisible Men at the Top of the World 6
Quitting Is a Decision-Making Tool 10
The Siren Song of Certainty 14
The Super Bowl Is a Corporate Graveyard 16
“Know When to Hold ’Em, Know When to Fold ’Em”: But Mostly, Fold ’Em 18

Chapter 2. Quitting On Time Usually Feels
Like Quitting Too Early 23
Quit While You Still Have a Choice 29
Thinking in Expected Value 32
Quitting Decisions Are Expected-Value Decisions 35
Time Travelers from the Past 39Copyrighted Material Flipping Coins 41
Jumping the Shark 42
The Quitting Bind 44

Chapter 3. Should I Stay, or Should I Go? 48
Paper Gains and Paper Losses 51
Quit While You’re Ahead? 55
Take the Money and Run 57
How Smart Is the Smart Money? 59
Getting Feedback on the Things You Don’t Do 63

INTERLUDE I QUITTING WHEN THE WORLD IS WATCHING 67

SECTION II In the Losses
Chapter 4. Escalating Commitment 73
Knee-Deep in the Big Muddy 79
Waiting until It Hurts 81

Chapter 5. Sunk Cost and the Fear of Waste 85
The Sunk Cost Effect 89
When “Public Works” Is an Oxymoron 92
Katamari 95
How Big Does the Katamari Grow? 98
Mental Accounting 100
The Hardest Cost to Bear 102
The Difference between Knowing and Doing 103
You Can’t Jedi Mind Trick Being Fresh to a Decision 105Copyrighted Material

Chapter 6. Monkeys and Pedestals 108
Getting the Monkey Off Your Back 112
Kill Criteria 115
Funnel Vision 117
States and Dates 122
Better, Not Perfect 125

INTERLUDE II GOLD OR NOTHING 129

SECTION III Identity and Other Impediments
Chapter 7. You Own What You’ve Bought and What You’ve Thought: Endowment and Status Quo Bias 135
An Oenophile among Economists 140
Also, If You’ve Known It, You Own It 143
The Endowment Effect 144
Pro Sports Teams and Their Escalating Commitment to High Draft Picks 146
The Status Quo Is Hard to Quit 150
Better the Devil You Know 153
The Price of Sticking 154

Chapter 8. The Hardest Thing to Quit Is Who You Are: Identity and Dissonance 158
The Cult of Identity 164
Cognitive Dissonance 168
The Mirror and the Window 170Copyrighted Material Out on a Limb 173
Mistaken Identity 175
A Ray of Hope 176

Chapter 9. Find Someone Who Loves You but Doesn’t Care about Hurt Feelings 180
(Over) Optimism 185
The Difference between Being Nice and Being Kind 188
Some Coaches Can Pull the Plug 190
Divide and Conquer 192
The Importance of Giving and Getting Permission 194

INTERLUDE III THE ANTS GO MARCHING . . . MOSTLY 199

SECTION IV Opportunity Cost
Chapter 10. Lessons from Forced Quitting 205
In the Meantime 210
What Ants Can Teach Us about Backup Plans 213
Notes from the London Underground 216
Just One Day 218
Diversifying Your Opportunities 221
The Great Resignation 224

Chapter 11. The Myopia of Goals 228
The Problem with Pass-Fail 230
Fixed Objects in a Changing World 235
Every Goal Needs At Least One Unless 237
Marking Progress along the Way 240
Goal-Induced Myopia 242
Quit Thinking about Waste 244

Acknowledgments 249
Notes 253
Bibliography 281
Index 297
About the Author 309