Winners Never Quit

and Quitters Never Win. 

But anyone who trusts a catchy aphorism has already quit thinking. Here is another aphorism, one that exposes the shallowness of not quitting when it makes sense. There is more to it than meets the eye. Never say never.

So when does a quitter win? After the sixth chocolate, I quit indulging and my blood glucose stops rising before I go blind. I win.

When does a winner quit? Beethoven was lauded as a musical genius before he went deaf. After that, he couldn't hear what he was playing, so he quit performing in public, saved his reputation and became forever a legend of greatness.

What is the truth connecting quitting-persisting with winning-losing? The truth is that you have to examine the facts, and predict the likely outcome of possible actions. Sometimes quitters win and sometimes winners quit and sometimes you win if you don't give up. We estimate probabilities and play the odds. That's all we've got.

You aren't convinced. I can tell. OK. Put a clever rat in a maze. When he gets to a dead end, what does he do? Does he keep scratching at the dead end until he expires from hunger, or does he quit that branch, turn around and try another and another until he finds the exit and a reward of food? Or does he jump the barrier and find the way out of the lab and into the wondrous world? 

Here is the truth.
It's not about winning.
It's not the reward,
not wealth,
not pleasure,
not trophies nor toys.
It's not about status or power
or endless growth in a finite world,
unless that is the game we choose.
Playing that game,
we lose.
Quitting the game
to be and become for a time,
living the miracle, we can't lose.

Here is the truth within the truth.
It's not a game.

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Quitting is a Wildly Underrated Life Strategy: Big Think, Julia Keller