To Quit or Commit: Should You Let Go of Your Big Dream?

IS IT TIME TO LEAN IN OR LET GO? When is it time to double down and commit to that thing you said you’d do, and when might it be time to call it quits? As illustrators and creative people, we may have all kinds of things we think we should be doing, whether to build up our careers or grow in our skills, or using our art for some kind of good. If you’re at the very beginning of your career, or barely even getting started at this point, you may well be wondering, how long is this thing going to take before I start getting noticed? How do I know if all this work I’m pouring into this thing is going to pay off? For a lot of us, I know we’re also trying to get noticed on social media. We wonder how much effort should we be putting into building our presence online and, more to my point, if we’re not seeing the returns we hoped for, when might it be time to quit altogether?In this episode, I’m going to share with you some times when I’ve had to wrestle with this question — should I commit or should I quit. In fact, I’m going through this question right now in a very real way, and to be honest, I don’t quite know how it's going to turn out in the long run.  There are some times when you need to let go and try something else. But what I can tell you is that there are definitely times I wanted to give up but kept on going, and I am VERY glad I stuck with it. So in this episode, I want to give you some ways to consider both sides of the question. How can we be more clear about whether we should quit or commit, and how am I using this very same process to think through my current dilemma? All I ask is that you stick around, you know, maybe COMMIT to listening to this episode the whole way through — I know that if you’re facing this question in your life, you’ll get something out of it. HOW TO SUPPORTThank you for listening/watching!01 — Share this episode/podcast with a friend.This is the single most effective way to help grow this podcast.02 — Support me on Patreon at http://patreon.com/tomfroese$8 Drawing Buddies gain exclusive access to my monthly Draw With Me meetups.Join for as low as $3 to get 20% off my 1-on-1 coaching sessions03 – Take my Skillshare classes!Visit http://tomfroese.com/teaching to find links to all my classes. Use these links and get 30 days of free membership on Skillshare!04 – Join my mailing listNever miss an important update. Sign up at http://tomfroese.com/contact IN THIS EPISODEOpener: Should You Quit or Commit?Advertisement: Take the Style Class and discover Your Own Unique Way of Illustrating!Find The Style Class Here: https://skl.sh/3S6PCF1 — Use this link to get 30 days free on SkillsharePart 1: The purpose of today's topicTo work out this question in my own current big goal/projectI am committed but it's costing me a lot — of time and financesEverything takes longer than I hopedGood reasons to quit but also good reasons to stay committedWhat if I'm just being negative about things? What if I'm on the verge of a big breakthrough?Is it possible to be overcommitted to a goal?Part 2: What can I teach from this situation?How to navigate this dilemma, should I quit or should I commit?I want to validate this experience – why this is hard for all of usDeciding which is better: letting go to make room for something else, or staying committed to give things a chance to pay off?Analogy: relationships — have you ever stayed in a relationship you weren't happy with for too long?Owning your feelings and desires no matter the cost to you or othersThe tendency to attach what we do to who we are as humans - identity vs. activityHave your goals changed? Do you even still want to do this anymore?Chill out! Don't get so intense about things working out exactly as you plannedParadox: When you're willing to let go of a good thing you're more likely to get itYou've got to be in it to win itPart 3: Questions we can ask ourselvesPurpose:Why am I doing this?What do I want?Method:Is this the only way to achieve my bigger goal?What else could I be doing?Value:What is this costing?Is the cost worth it? Why?What are you getting out of this?ConclusionThe things we do don't define usThe most important thing: Ultimately what gives you joy? What helps us love others and ourselves?Plot twist: Leaning in and Letting Go are not the only two optionsAnother option: Loosening upHow I'm loosening up with my big goal LINKS FROM THIS EPISODEAndy J. Pizza / The Creative Pep Talk Podcast - https://www.creativepeptalk.com/Marc Maron / WTF Podcast - https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast PODCAST TEAM/CREDITS THANK YOU TO MY TEAM!Julia Herrick, Script Editorhttps://julesherrick.comMark Allan Falk, Audio/Video Engineerhttps://linktr.ee/semiathleticAll Music, including Theme Song and Cues by Mark Allan Falk. FIND ME ELSEWHERE http://linktr.ee/mrtomfroese
PODCAST TEAM/CREDITS Mark Allan Falk, Audio/Video Engineerhttps://linktr.ee/semiathleticAll Music, including Theme Song and Cues by Mark Allan Falk. FIND ME ELSEWHERE www.tomfroese.com