Knowing When To Quit: The Ultimate Guide 

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I was very successful and motivated since I was a kid!My first divorce had to sell my business,second divorce had to sell the house my father left me. I come to realize that I sink spiritually,physically,financially, and mentally when I’m in relationship, they just suck the life out of me. Now I’m 42 and I couldn’t be happier single . I was in a relationship since 16 years old from one relationship to another like a monkey from branch to branch. I didn’t realize how exhausting relationship is.

In my mid to late 40's my mantra is 'what is the highest and best use of my time?', helps to keep focused on what moves the needle forward in life, and re prioritize effort when needed

As a lifelong solo/entrepreneur, knowing when to quit is the single most important skill you can have. Opportunity costs kill.

I think that's a core to wisdom, Every decision should be weighted against 'what I'm willing to do, vs what I get in return'

After 3 divorces and 4 breakups I realized that they're mostly the same and my piece of advice for your my brothers is not to quit but ACTUALLY *DON'T EVEN GET INVOLVED* You'll save your sanity

I’ve realized at 40 with only very limited short term success, I should quit dating

A woman's psyche is 9 times deeper and more sensitive than a man's. That is why it is 9 times more difficult for a woman to change herself. In ancient times, people knew this and protected women from all the vices and sins of this world from childhood, because such things leave a big mark on a woman's psyche. That is why a woman was passed from the care of her father to the care of her fiancé, without any period in between where any third party or stranger could influence her. Unlike a man who acquires more and more qualities over the course of his life through asceticism, a woman is given all the qualities for a happy life from birth. At birth, her vessel is completely full of female energy. It is important to take care of this vessel and not to spill it. _________________

You played to win, put in the effort to that end, but it just didn't work out. That's way different than just quitting, good lesson

I agree Rich, who are you trying to impress. You’ve reached your goals. Now you only need God to give you that contentment in your life. That’s what I have in my life. Love you my friend I’m always praying for you.

I hear you my brother! I'm not giving up my cycling! Just did 37km yesterday. Best to get out there and live 💯💯

Hey Rich, long time listener. A good example for me of when it’s time to quit was when I was going through Arctic school in Alaska for the Army. I had thrown my back out and was just pushing through, I had 4 days left of the field exercise portion, and I realized that the school had no benefit for me other than that it was a huge personal challenge. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze with possible long-lasting back problems afterwards.

In this day and age there are so many addicts that you have to ask yourself. Am I an addict? Or am I bettering myself? There's no shame in quitting if you will not get where you need or it will kill you or destroy you in the end. Attainable goals.

Great video, appreciate the honesty. I have almost the opposite problem - huge legs and hips with narrow shoulders. I barely have to train my legs at all, but my delts and lats are a different story. So it's a constant process of experimenting with upper body exercises that produce results and tossing the ones that don't. Smoke and mirrors.

I'm training to climb the Matterhorn. I leave in July and it's been my life since the start of 2024. Everything else has been back burner. You are 100% right about knowing where your priorities lie and how important that goal is, as well as the relation to your ROI. For me this is a dream climb so the sacrifice to my other focuses of life is worth it to accomplish a bucket list item for me right now.

I needed this. Thank you.

Hey Rich. Much respect for trying to compete in BB. Ive been doing it for 22 years now and i can tell you, Its just not healthy for guys our age to be pushing the doses required to get there... plus, all the food required. Anyway, You Still look freaking great man! Ive been following for years and love the content!

After obtaining my card, I completed a few years as a pro. Always felt that the value was in the training phase to reach the gains, but little satisfaction came from the actual show dates. Tough on the body to do long term.

Incredible how much youve grown Rich. I started on your work found a woman. Ignored red flags. And paid the price. Less than a week seperated and shes in a relationship with another man. Back on the grind.

By far, by a country mile, my worst investment was my marriage. ;-) The buyout was crazy expensive, but what a relief!

Can't shoot a rocket from a canoe ! Your trainer was an awsome person to tell you the truth. Without legs you shouldn't get on stage.

The goal is to live your best life. Your time is your life, so manage your time allocations to manage your life. I've tracked and managed my time in half-hour chunks for the past 40 years. It's made a huge difference in my life because it gave me visibility into my time allocations versus my goals. It's surprising how consistent, small, time allocations can generate large results over the years.

Knowing when to quit anything. I like the stock experts advice on this. Get out at the point you would never get in.

💯 ROI. Love it

I found this useful in contemplating the value of marriage, kids, and life itself. Some serious wisdom in this one...

Spot injecting test thinkings it’s going to grow that area is maybe about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard

Hmm, couldn't the zero return on investment be applied to the search for the perfect woman?

Very hard thing to do. It takes a lot of humility and selfawareness, it is very easy to mistake “i am lazy and do not want to do the work” for “the juice is not worth the squeeze”

Thank you

Often really thinking about things ahead of time and deciding that results are worth the effort is key. Don't be a raven going from one shiny thing to another.

I mostly try new things & take it to the highest level I can if I’m interested to learn. Whether it be lifting or chess. Experience is what matters so as to say been there, done that…💯

Going for perfect results is usually to much work. Getting better results than almost everyone else is a doable task.

Threw everything emotionally money wise time wise the whole thing into a relationship only to have it all thrown back in my face. Hard lesson learned but never again. At some point you've got to bow out when it's not working move on and learn the lesson.

Depends how much joy I find in the process of doing THAT thing.. peoples experiences with it also play a role and the results they got. Did alot of trial and errors in my 20s im 25 this year. I'm gonna continue playing trial and errors until I hit it right on the head

Good timing on the video mate! Been trying to work this out for myself recently with some new projects I've been investing a lot of time and mental resources in to... I'm not a quitter either, I also play to win... And this whole idea of me quitting now and "giving up" has been eating at me... But just as you said... Is the juice worth the squeeze... And I'm not a good measurements kinda guy 😅 therefore... Once again... As you said .. how can you gauge your success if you aren't measuring your progress... Funnily enough, I've been a bodybuilder and powerlifter for 20 years .. never taken a measurement... But now I think about it... I've measured my progress in other ways, the way I look, the way clothes fit, the weight I move etc... Which is actually funny because I've never come to that realization until writing this now haha.. Been listening to your videos on and off since you started your channel mate... Always manage to get some insight out them 💪

I have the same issue with upper body to legs ratio. Working on it.

Yeah, had to quit on some things, but it was really obvious I had no other choice but to quit. I havn't had this one big thing I had to quit though, not this far in my life, like I've heard many guys in sport just don't want to quit. I would actually just apply this to dating, too many guys don't quit on their girl, when they really should, I would say this is the one thing I struggle a bit more, but atm it's not too bad.

Quit the losers (limits your investment) and invest in the proven winners. Keep your eyes (and mind) open. No-one wins em all, winners learn to play and work things so they have house odds (casinos have house odds). With experience, a person knows how to roll the dice, and win more than they lose (still losing quite a bit) but doing well overall. New people can get frozen out of fear, I did, encountered some significant losses early on. Just gotta suck it up, not get played for a fool, withdraw, and figure out where the mistakes were. It took me two decades, now have some favorite winning businesses I own, do real well. There is always risk, so watch all investments, even the winners.

And you have perfectly described why average men don't do the work. They know it's not going to get them what they want!

I started running at 50, had been a cyclist in my 30s, but hadn't been active over 10 years. Did the full marathon at 54, still tougher than i expected. It was one-and-done.

Lifting is great but I’ve never understood the appeal of competitive bodybuilding. It’s not a sport, it’s a pageant.

Good video and in many regards useful lessons can be applied from that context to other areas of life. Specifically with regard to competitive bodybuilding that's an unusual endeavor that in my opinion is more genetically predetermined than most others. I see many guys lose themselves in that realm going down a rabbit hole that costs them in every other area of their lives. My view is unless you blow up once you start training it's probably not worth your while devoting more than recreational time to it. I think this is especially true of natural bodybuilding, really don't see the point in all the systemic stress for a few photos (which often don't look impressive if the guy is natural) and if you do exceptionally well a plastic trophy. If one ventures beyond natural and even standard TRT protocols then there are health trade offs but the rules of the game are still the same as the competition is doing likewise or more. It's an interesting topic and society likes to make people think they can have it all. With this endeavor, this is particularly untrue. Even the elites who have a myostatin deficiency or hyper responders to steroids/PEDs also get fine tuned judgment regarding bodyparts, proportion and symmetry making it all very nuanced and at times bordering on the abstract. Every man must train with weights, achieve his genetic potential or at least near it, optimize his hormones as he ages and keep his bodyfat in an acceptable range but devoting all ones time and energy to something unless it really pays off which statistically speaking for most people just won't should probably not be done or at the very least know when to quit.

Gotta say this resonates a little😂😂. I was set to enter my first bodybuilding competition on 4/20 and my personal trainer was all set to train me for it.....until she moved in her powerlifting coach and blocked me🤣🤣 Basically I had no chance, but I just wanted to go on stage and not come in dead last. I've never had the discipline to eat enough. I've recently been hired to be a personal trainer again so maybe after I hit the gym a little bit I might get back into it enough.

Tried growing my video production business, couldn’t manage to get it off the ground. Calling it quits at the end of the year and dissolving my llc.

This is very difficult issue. I’ve known mountaineers who probably died because they had the attitude that under no circumstances would they ever quit. They are no longer with us. Personally I was trying to get a competition some years ago, driving into a snowstorm and even with a heavy duty four-wheel-drive truck, I had to turn around and head back home. I probably could’ve gotten to the competition but would’ve taken maybe 10 or 12 hours at 20 miles an hour if I didn’t wind up in the ditch. But turning around was very very difficult. Knowing when to pull the plug is never easy and know of no easy answers.

Same way. Envision the outcome/goal. Why. Is it realistic/ if yes then what would it take/cost. Does the achievement justify the cost. If it’s unrealistic, is there a realistic version that is achievable that holds the same value just not at that level. I.e. body building physique vs well toned multifunctional physique

I always consider the opportunity cost versus the ROI. Translation (is the juice worth the squeeze).

I'll never douse myself with salad dressing. Strength is easier to measure imho.

Win? Succeed? At what cost?

I have weight trained 5 x per week for years and i am definiatly not able to enter a body building competition. My genetics for building muscle are very poor. Especially my legs. I know short steroids i am genetically incapable of building enough muscle. However from my efforts i have been told i look like i could be in the marines/army. Its just not reflective of the effort and massive food consumption.

Is jujitsu worth the squeeze?

Modern, effective, and professionally trained military units like the US Marines are not afraid to quit when the circumstances call for it. "All units pull back" is an order frequently given during firefights so no lives are lost unnecessarily and the teams can regroup and find a new strategy, usually calling in a precision artillery or air strike. Conscript based armies like the Soviets would follow a hard headed doctrine, sending wave after wave of troops against fortified opponents and end up losing entire army groups in just a few hours of fighting. This is the reason why combat units of the US military are very small, but they achieve the same results as a much larger army from developing nations. Pragmatism, thinking outside the box.

I do BJJ it makes me look muscular and I find it fun to do in the moment. Absolutely no interest in the effort to get super built even though I would like it I have too many others things in my life goals and enjoyments and my fitness is really good anyway

IS bodybuilding a sport? or is it something you do to get better at sport (football, etc..)?

A bodybuilding competition is to show competitors with elite physics. If you had no legs then do you really think 8 months of actually taking it serious will get you a trophy? Deff not, it takes years of effort and hard work. It’s not just about randomly saying okay yeah let me step on stage just to say I did it. Same thing with building wealth, it doesn’t happen overnight or in a year timeframe. Just stay at it and it will come, you’re not the only one that struggles with leg development, dont worry.

I took off boxes I go hard if there's something I've never done I wantna do it doesn't really matter if I'm the best at it I just want to be very good at it then I move on to something else... To me being a specialist is bori never wanted to be that guy that says yeah I wish I did that

"Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots"

Also, the 2+ grams of gear you have to inject per week lol

I always wanted to get into bodybuilding because I wanted to appeal to bb women. They are the type I’m attracted to. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. I don’t have a body to gain muscle fast and I would have to take major gear. I can’t sacrifice my life and health just to get a fbb. I can lift heavy, always been an athlete but my body type just isn’t conducive to the sport. Sucks…

Stick with the three primary priorities. Mind Body Money.

Everyday is leg day

The law of diminishing returns to damn near everything huh? Once you hit like 80% of whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, that's a good point to stop while you're ahead, unless you're dedicated to becoming an expert in that respective thing 😅

Rich if you want big calf walk with a heavy ass bag like all the old mail men would bsck in the day.......I never ever ever saw one with small calfs but you would have to walk 8 hours a day for a couple of years.

I quit when I realise I can’t fulfil my goal, or, as you say the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. When it comes to women, there needs to be a certain level of alignment in terms of intellect, fitness, mindset and finance (they can’t be broke - shows a victim attitude).

Sounds like you needed a better leg workout protocol :P As a 6'2 lanklet myself, legs have always been the easiest for me to grow. Sure genetics, but whatever. I only do Squats and Deadlifts and got 71 cm thighs. With that said, Squats and Deads can be really poor for pure leg size, especially for us lankies. I don't care, since right now I wanna get to 300kg deads and 220 for reps on the squat, but if I was going for pure hypertrophy I'd do Hack Squats/Zercher Squats, RDLs, Leg Press, Extensions, Curls and a shitton of calf raises. I'd do 2 different leg workouts in the week probably split by Light/Heavy or Hams/Quads. I'd use a mix of set and rep ranges covering the whole 5-30 span and working up from 10 sets per muscle group to 20 or even more, since leggies can often handle a ton of volume.

the term for this topic is 'the sunken cost fallacy'

Good advice. In this case, the results you were aiming for didn’t have real value for your life. The energy expenditure alone would mean much less being allocated to things that bring more to your life, like developing businesses.

It's over for you

this is confusing... you training for a bodybuilding contest? when was this? ive been following you on and off for at least 8 years when you had hair and talking about cars but i dont remember this. i mean you were always in good shape especially for your height, but not on that level to compete. and did you already take TRT before 8 ys ago...?

👍

I remember this interview with Dorian Yates. He told, in 90s when he had been dominating the Mr. Olympia contests he only used to work out 3 hours per week with weights and half an hour per week cardio. Any guy who needs more training is not predispositioned for that sport and should look somewhere else, maybe gardening, he said. And he never took anything besides some testosterone which is only a natural substance, but admittingly aimed for above natural levels of it. Retired today he is still healthy doing alpine hiking in Switzerland. Maradona alway refused to do cardio arguing he was a football player and not into marathon. He never lacked agility on the pitch. Johann Cruyff smoked in the cabin in the half time break ... Your ability to perform in cardio is predispositioned by your inner organ's capability to process oxygen. Training will you lead you up to that limit and not an inch further. I think, you should find out what your genetical disposition is. It might not necessarily be what you think of in the first place.

You have to try to be the best version of yourself regardless of how others are doing compared to you. Doing the best for yourself does not mean you have to be much better than others either . There are always someone better or worse than you in some aspects, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t doing well enough for yourself.

Why didn’t he just run you through a specialization phase where you lay off the upper body and focus on really dialing in that leg problem?

Meh, don’t ever quit, always get back up. The only thing I’ve ever quit in life are jobs, but those get a pass. In relationships I never am the one to quit, dating sure and the get to know you phases. But once it gets to me making a commitment then my ass is going to do everything I have to do to not quit on someone.

Nothing wrong with being realistic... Although it pays to be a bit delusional at times

Starting a body build career in your 50's that is so dumb. Hello!!!

Who tf was the PT?! 😂

You have to learn to drip the things in your life that don’t provide a benefit.

Malaysia not smelling like a urinal may the biggest deal breaker of the list

I wouldn't be getting no kind of injections.

Sometimes you have to take the "L". *Lesson

🤔 Those Red Plastic seats will give Rich a wet back with summer heat🔥🥵

Go tell y'all how it is ( the juice ain't worth the squeeze)

Genetics is everything in bodybuilding and then there is age. Just like basketball ball players if your not 6'5 or above forget it.

Know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em

How tall are you? You look short.

You expected huge gains in 6 months?? Wrong trainer and mentality

You should try High Intensity Training (HIT) - it's the best bang for your buck when it comes to weight training. All the best bodybuilders train with max intensity. The "controversial" component is that the top guys have insane genetics that allow them to train all the time so laymen think they have to copy the top guys and end up overtraining and not growing muscle.

Video starts at 7:59 you’re welcome

wes watson should know when to quit

You didn't quit. You just redirected your resources. It definitely wasn't a waste.

Thanks for showing you really do not know how to train, and apparently neither did your trainer. In my opinion the bodybuilding dogma of using drugs, and drinking protein powders is part of the supplement scam of the bodybuilding of the 70's "bro science". When it comes to training, in my opinion one should use physics as Doug Brignole said, "Muscles pull toward their origin". Also, diet and nutrition and "recovery" is the other half of the science of building muscle. As Bill Pearl put it, "stress plus "REST". And it is the recovery that most do not take into consideration, (as you did not even mention this in your video), rest, diet and recovery is just as important as the workout.🥩🥚🥓🍗🍖🧀🍶

This defeatist attitude sucks. Wake up man. 💪

Really what benefit of being in front of nothing but other men looking like Kratos?

Good job.

"gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em"

Love this video. We all need to know when to quit. I recommend the book Quit by Annie Duke. I'm currently making a final push with dating, and if unsuccessful I will quit. Life is too short to waste on things that wont net a return when there's other things you can do that will.

Sunk cost bias is very true but very counter intuitive

Rich " Chicken Legs " Cooper

soo... an 8 minute video about how Rich has shit legs :(