Quit: When Walking Away Is The Best Thing 

“Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” 

Many of us have heard that phrase at some point in our lives, and it’s a pretty good indicator of how we were raised to think about success. We’re told in school, in our jobs, and in relationships that we should stick things out when the going gets tough — and that walking away means we’ve failed. 

But what if we’re in a toxic job that’s draining our time and motivation? What if we’re holding onto a bad investment that’s hurting our finances? Quitting can sometimes be the absolute best choice — as long as you do it at the right time and in the right way. 

Annie Duke is a former professional poker player, and for years, her job depended on knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Using that skill, she went on to become one of the world’s greatest female poker players, amassing more than $4 million in total earnings. Since retiring from poker in 2012, she’s become an educator on decision-making and a bestselling author, and most recently, she’s been on a mission to help more people embrace quitting. Her latest book is “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away.” 

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Annie joins us to talk about the psychology of quitting, and why our brains are wired to hate giving up — even when it’s for the best. Hear why cognitive biases like opportunity cost neglect and the sunk cost fallacy cause us to stay in bad situations for far too long, and why walking away as soon as we can makes us more successful over time. 

“Contrary to what our intuition is, quitting doesn’t stop your progress,” says Annie. “It actually speeds you up. If you’re doing something that isn’t working, and you don’t switch, it means that you can’t switch all your time and attention to something that is working.”

Quitting gets even more complicated when there’s money at stake. Annie talks about how her experience weighing the value of her hand in poker has translated to analyzing the stock market. She shares the common logical traps that cause us to stick with faulty investments and how we can avoid them. (Hint: it’s not about how much money you’ve already put in, but how much you risk losing if you continue to invest in the future.)

We also dive into the topic of careers and tackle the tricky question of when to quit a job. People are still leaving their jobs at higher rates than before the pandemic, but research also suggests that as many as 8 out of 10 workers who quit during the Great Resignation wish they had stayed. Annie gets practical and walks through all the steps you can take to evaluate your situation so that if you do quit, you can have confidence that you made the right decision. Listen in to hear why Annie recommends setting your quit conditions far in advance of taking any action and using a “quitting coach” to help you work through your emotions. 

In Mailbag, we hear from one listener who’s using “How to Money” to revamp her financial life. Another listener wants to know the pros and cons of putting money into a high-yield savings account versus CDs versus Treasury bonds. Do you have more questions about how to manage your money? The next session of FinanceFixx, our personal finance coaching program, is starting on April 4. You can learn more or sign up at the FinanceFixx website. 

For more about Annie, you can visit her website or subscribe to her Substack.   

READ MORE: 

• My Boss Won’t Let Me Work From Home Anymore… Should I Quit?
• 7 Signs Your Hybrid Workplace Could Be Toxic
• How to Survive a Toxic Workplace

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