10 Ways to Keep Going (When All You Want to do is Quit)

Some days are so frustrating, that all you want to do is give up.

Whether it’s a work task, your career, a new diet, or a study project, it can be so hard to stay the course when you’re getting nothing back in return.

Before long, the feeling builds and it spirals into, ‘Why am I even bothering? I should just quit now and stop wasting my time and energy on something that isn’t going anywhere.’

It takes monumental self-will, or just blind stubbornness, to keep nudging forward regardless.

Sometimes, taking time out to do something different for a while is enough. But if it’s not and you still really want to quit, check out this list of 10 ways to motivate yourself to keep going.

You got this, we promise!

Write down why you want to quit
First, write down all your reasons for wanting to quit your project. Use this as an exercise to vent your frustration completely and get everything that’s on your mind or bringing you down out on to a piece of paper.

A lot of the time, feeling like this means you’ve been ignoring or storing up frustrations for a while so acknowledging what’s going on is a really helpful way to start feeling better fast.

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Look at why you shouldn’t give up
Take each of your reasons in turn and try to reframe them: Look to see if they’re really true in the cold light of day, and come up with counter-arguments that show how they don’t tell the full story, or write down why they aren’t good enough reasons to give up and pull the plug on something for good.

Facing challenges on one particular day or even over a period of time, isn’t the same as failing permanently. Remind yourself that you only really fail when you quit.
Count your wins and successes
In any project, there are successes, even minor ones that you might not see at first.

Hold on to even the smallest of wins. It might be things you’ve learned, skills you’ve improved, ways you’ve moved forward, or made a contribution. – Once you find one, you’ll soon be able to stack up more and more reasons for your project being more worthwhile than you think.
Tap into your original motivation
Every project starts with an end goal in mind, so tune back into your ‘why’ and get close to that motivation again.

If there’s a part of it that you do enjoy, try to work on that for a while. Or if it’s something you want to achieve or a challenge you need to meet in order to do something else, check back in and remind yourself of why you started in the first place. Even if it doesn’t rev you up again, it’ll definitely make giving up less appealing.
Don’t let emotional responses cloud your judgment and lead you to quit
When you have thoughts of quitting or walking away, often you’re letting your frustrations and your emotional responses run you, rather than your rational goal-oriented self (the one that should be in charge right now.)

Emotional investment can be great, it’s what pushes you to succeed and do your best. But it’s important to avoid letting feelings make decisions that they shouldn’t be solely responsible for.

Being able to step back and take a time out, then telling yourself that you’re going to carry on because you made a rational decision to see this through when you were feeling more in control, might be the difference between you giving up and carrying on.