A bad session
You had a horrible practice. Nothing worked and you want to give up completely.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
Months of it
You have not enjoyed something for a long time. It is not that it got hard — you just do not want to do it.
What is worth doing?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
There are two different reasons to want to stop, and they need opposite responses. One is that it has got hard. The other is that it does not suit you.
Hard usually passes
Everything gets hard at some point, usually just before it gets better. Stopping there is how people end up having started twenty things.
Wrong does not pass
If you have not enjoyed it for months, and you would not choose it now, that is different information.
Do not decide on a bad day
Decide after a good session, not after a terrible one. A decision made in a bad mood is about the mood.
Step 3: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
When is the worst time to decide whether to quit something?
Question 2 of 2
Which one is a sign it might genuinely be wrong for you?
Step 4: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Ask the two questions
- Think of something you have thought about quitting.
- Ask: has it got hard, or is it wrong for me?
- If you are not sure, wait for a good day and ask again.
Why: Most quitting regret comes from answering the wrong one of these two questions.
Step 5: What You Learned
- Hard and wrong-for-you need opposite responses.
- Hard usually passes, often just before it gets better.
- Never decide on a bad day.
For the grown-up
This is where parents most often apply a slogan. Neither "never give up" nor "only do what you enjoy" survives contact with a real child and a real activity.
The bad-day rule is worth enforcing as a household policy: no quitting decisions on the day of a bad session. It removes almost all regretted decisions in both directions.
If they do stop, help them name what those months bought them. Nothing is wasted, and saying so is what makes the next commitment possible.