Quit when it’s easy, not when it’s difficult

Mohammed Ali. Known as one of the greatest, if not the greatest athlete of all time.

His professional record was 56–5, an astonishing feat.

But he lost 3 out of his last 4 fights, which are often described as sad to watch.

The money came too easily at the end, and he just couldn’t help himself from taking it.

Unfortunately, it was these later fights that contributed to Ali’s Parkinson’s disease, which made his later life that much harder.

Take another example. Cristiano Ronaldo.

Some people say he’s playing too long, that he makes teams perform worse compared to the other options available. But because of the gravity and expectation that comes with his name, people still expect what they saw of him 10 years ago, as one of the world’s greatest. *

It’s often said that the second hardest thing for an athlete is to be great, and the hardest is to quit.

It takes humility to let that part of you die, and to move forward with your life.

You have to let go at some point, but it’s up to you whether that’s by choice or not.

This doesn’t just apply to professional athletes.

We all come to crossroad points in our lives.

Whether it’s choosing to leave a mediocre relationship because you know it could be better, or choosing to leave a job that pays the bills, but you know doesn’t satisfy you.

These decisions often lead to errors of omission, where we don’t see the results of our decision until many years later, when we’re filled with regret.

The opposite example I have is Josh Waitzkin.

The inspiration for the movie ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer’, Josh was a child chess prodigy. However, around the age of 18, he fell out of love with the sport and moved on to Tai Chi push hands, where he became a world champion.

As of 2025, he hadn’t touched a chess piece since he left the sport behind.

So many of us choose to stick with something not serving us because we get praised in public for it. Our identities and egos become attached, and it prevents us from making truly objective decisions.

However, sometimes quitting won’t be the correct decision. With the advent of social media, we are subject to so many success stories of how people quit the thing that wasn’t serving them and managed to make the new thing work.

But that ignores all the stories of the people that it didn’t work for.

You have to make the decision for whether you think it’s worth it. You have to take responsibility for it. Just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you.

But just because it didn’t work for somebody else doesn’t mean it’ll be that way for you either.

There is no one-size-fits all advice. Take everything with a pinch of salt.