How Long Until You Quit?

I was searching for some information on my computer this week and ran across an email I’d gotten back when I was with my previous company.

As a top earner in the company, people were regularly emailing for assistance and asking lots of questions at events. That was always one of my favorite things… being able to teach and show motivated people how to get from where they were, to where I was and then some!

I glanced thru it and had to laugh. Since there’s so many people I know who are still learning how to build an online business (myself included), I thought I would share what I knew back then and, thankfully, was reminded of this week.

This is a note I’d sent to my team back then:

Hey gang, I got an email from a gal a few weeks ago letting me know she was frustrated because XYZ company hadn’t worked for her yet and she knew that she could be successful here.

She followed that up with “I gave it MY ALL for one month.”

Really? You gave it your all? For an entire MONTH!?

It reminded me of other folks I’ve spoken to here and there who call me after a couple of months or however long it is, to let me know that their business isn’t working, why it isn’t working, and that they’re thinking about going back to a job and just not doing this anymore.

So it dawned on me that people are only willing to give their “ALL” until… and then they pick a predetermined time of when that “until” is going to be.

I did that too! 

When I got started here, I gave myself 5 years….I figured businesses take a while to get going so it might take a couple years for that, and then I gave myself another 2-3 years past that so I could get to that self-employed “retirement” they were talking about.

When I got that email, I started thinking about what my “ALL” has been for me in my life, and how I’ve gone about measuring it. And it dawned on me that all human beings have a way to measure what their “ALL” is.

For most of us, we measure it by time.

The person who emailed me?  For her, it’s 30 days before she gives up.  For some, it may be 90 days… “the XYZ program is a 90-day program so if I haven’t met my goal in 90 days, I’ll quit because I’ve given it my “ALL”.”

So then I started looking at my life to see where I can truly say I’ve given it my “ALL”.

One time was during my last semester in college during finals week.  I had to get a specific number of A’s and B’s to meet my 3.8 GPA.  I literally stayed awake 24/7 for SEVEN days to finish a project for one of my classes and I lived on caffeine. Turns out that’s not the best thing to do for your health, but I can truly say I gave it my “ALL”.

Another area that I can say I’m giving it my “ALL” is in raising my son.  From day one, he became my focus… raising him to become the awesome young man he now is… I was totally involved in his education, his sports, his activities, school projects… you name it…

I was soccer coach, baseball coach, room mom, and den mom.  I checked his homework, read to him, took walks with him, got him to gymnastics, bowling, piano lessons and everything else that would provide him a well-rounded education and life.  And I did ALL of that around full-time jobs and full-time education and for the past years, my business!!

So I look at the people who come into this business READY to “give it their ALL”.  And then I watch them shoot themselves in the foot.

If they didn’t set a time frame at the end of the “I’ll do it Until” comment… they would have a much better chance of reaching their goals here.

Anything we’ve ever wanted to achieve in our lives that we didn’t, can typically be attributed to the fact that there was a time frame attached to it.  When we started out to accomplish the goal, we were going to do it until… and then we assigned a time frame as a way of measuring how long it should take for that goal.

Then what?  What happens when life gets in the way or something takes longer to figure out than you expected or there was something to learn that you didn’t even KNOW you were going to have to learn so it slows you down?

Are you still going to stand by your original statement and use it as an excuse to quit? I guess you can because you’ll have a way to justify the excuse right?

“If I don’t have success by such-and-such a time, I can quit because I’ve given it my “ALL” so it must not work.”

What does this mean for you?

It means you have a choice to make.  You’re giving your all to SOMETHING… most people are willing to give their all to a job… and they’re willing to give it their all for 40 years or more… and for what!?  So they can retire broke and get another part-time job or full-time job to give their ALL to?

Maybe that’s what your friends are doing. Maybe that’s what your family has always done… I know mine did.

But they did it out of ignorance… they didn’t KNOW any better! *I* didn’t know any better!

And yet we can justify that we’re giving our ALL to that job because we don’t see what it’s costing us… being able to see our kids grow up, being at their games, spending time with our spouse, assisting with charities that we would love to be supporting, or taking music lessons that we’ve wanted to take our whole lives…

In essence, we’ve been willing to give our “ALL” to a job and give up our life… all because we didn’t know any better.

But this lady knew better! She was seeing people succeed here every day. She was talking with people like me that were earning more in a month (sometimes even in a day) than what I used to earn for an entire year as a Computer Programmer!

So we start a business. We come ready to give it our “ALL”.  And then what?

Life keeps going and now you’re building a business. Now there’s no time to relax in front of the TV, or you’re up till 11pm, midnite or even later taking care of wrapping up your business day after dishes are done, floors are swept, laundry’s done, and you’ve put the kids to bed.

So, are you measuring your success here by the amount of time you’ve allotted?  Did you get started saying “I’ll do this until.”?

Until when???

This is your life….a life of total financial and time freedom…IF you give it your all UNTIL….

Not until a certain time… simply UNTIL!

Because if you’re willing to do that, you’re gonna be uncomfortable and possibly more tired than you’re used to for at least the next 2-3 years, maybe even longer. And in the meantime you’ll have a wonderful tax write-off that you wouldn’t otherwise have! 🙂

And then you’ll have the finances that will let you spend time doing what you love with the people you love.

You’re giving your life to something….is it going to be a job?  Or is it going to be your life?  It’s a choice!!

Your Turn: What do you think? Are you building a business? Did you set a time on how long it will take before you decide to call it quits?

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