Book Review: Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke

We all know the old adage that “winners never quit, and quitters never win.” In this fascinating book, Duke sets out to disprove it, and for the most part she succeeds. In fact, persistence can take us so far, but if it turns out that the goal we are pursuing becomes unobtainable, we are only going to win if we quit that path and take another.

To back up her premise, Duke shares examples of sports figures, business executives, entertainers, mountaineers, and others. She also draws extensively on her own past. Poor health caused her to have to abandon her ambitions in higher education. As an alternative, she took up professional poker playing. In poker, she had to fine tune her awareness of when to quit and when to proceed – large amounts were at stake when she made these decisions.

All of this caused me to look back and see how these principles have applied to my life. And of course I could come up with numerous examples. I completed a year of college and then realized that higher education wasn’t for me; the experience and skills I needed to become a writer I could attain more efficiently by living life and reading books. I also spent several months living in Los Angeles and learning to become a screenwriter. I even had a friend who was already a successful screenwriter and was guiding me in the craft. However, I eventually decided that this was not the type of writing I wanted to do, and from there I took off on my world travels, to obtain exciting experiences and to write about my adventures. On one occasion, when I was down and out in Nepal, I took a walk into the Himalayas along an unmarked mountain trail – to see what I could see. I got up close to the snow line, but I eventually had to turn around and come back down (quit) because I was unprepared and it would have been too dangerous to go farther. At various points along my path, I’ve opted out of relationships, jobs, and other situations when I realized that they would not be beneficial in the long term. I’m sure that all of you have had similar experiences.

So I found Duke’s advice to be thought-provoking and helpful. I like it best when she focuses on personal situations; I have to admit that the book becomes slightly less interesting along some stretches in the middle when she tells prolonged stories of businesses and business leaders – something I cannot not really relate to. However, overall the lessons she imparts are sound. Sometimes in certain situations quitting is the best thing you can do. Many people don’t tend to see this, however, at least not at first, and Duke explains why. For instance, they fall for the sunk-cost effect, which makes people reluctant to abandon a project in which they have already invested considerable time and money. Or they accomplish the easy parts of a project first only to realize that the cost of accomplishing the rest of it is far too high. Or they set goals and then become myopic about seeing them through, refusing to pay heed to the warning signs all around them. Or they fall for the cult of identity, refusing to deviate from the image they have built up of themselves. Whereas if they would accept the limitations of their talents and situations, they could accomplish much more.

In closing, this is a well-researched and well-written book, and it is a worthwhile read for anyone (everyone) who has to make important decisions as they proceed upon life’s path.