The Upside of Quitting

I was freaked out by a Freakonomics audiocast recently.

STEPHEN J. DUBNER:

You know the bromide: “a winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.”

To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure? Sometimes quitting is strategic, and sometimes it can be your best possible plan.

… To help us understand quitting, we look at a couple of key economic concepts in this episode: sunk cost and opportunity cost.

Sunk cost is about the past – it’s the time or money or sweat equity you’ve put into a job or relationship or a project, and which makes quitting hard.

Opportunity cost is about the future. It means that for every hour or dollar you spend on one thing, you’re giving up the opportunity to spend that hour or dollar on something else – something that might make your life better. …

Athletes — they use baseball players in their research — often stay in the sport too long.

In our context we’ve seen over and over again how much more successful gymnasts are when they move to other acrobatic sports. A friend today told me about his daughter — she quit gym and 3 months later was at the National Diving Championships.

Today she’s on an NCAA diving scholarship.

Here’s the link to that podcast – New Freakonomics Radio Podcast: “The Upside of Quitting”

… Don’t let your kids quit too soon. But equally important, help them transition at the optimum time. Artistic Gymnastics is still a youth sport, especially for women.