Reassess tasks periodically to see if it still add value
There are several classic books that I have not read, and I’ve often felt that I was missing out of the lessons contained in the best literary classics, especially as I spend more time on the craft of writing. A few years ago I chose to push myself to read several classic books. Moby Dick by Herman Melville was one of these books. I hoped to learn much about life, history, and story from these legendary tomes, but the unexpected lesson that this book taught me was that it is okay to quit something that no longer brings value to my life. I learned that I don’t have to be a completionist and that I can abandon something that I started without feeling bad about it.
Moby Dick: Cliff Notes
Moby Dick is a classic story written by Herman Melville and published in 1851. Melville spent time about whaling ships before embarking on a successful writing career, and Moby Dick was his sixth book, and according to the Introduction of the Arcturus Publishing Limited edition that I was reading, this book was considered Melville’s magnum opus.
This main protagonist of the story is a whaler, Ishmael, who enlists on a ship called the Pequod for a year-long expedition to find and hunt whales. The ship’s caption, Ahab, has a hunger to hunt the legendary white whale, Moby Dick. There is probably a lot more excitement, including a possible climatic scene where Ahab and the whale face off, but I didn’t get that far.
The prose of the book was, as can be expected from an almost 170-year-old book, not engaging. Character development, fast movement, and cohesiveness were lacking. And, while I am sure Mr. Melville is exceptionally knowledgable about whaling ships, routes, and trade in the 1800s, there was a lot of chapters dedicated to informing the reader about the whaling industry.
I quit
I am usually a fast reader. I keep a work of fiction on my bedside table to help me unwind before falling asleep. This means I regularly read a novel in about a week - though classics often take a little longer, but rarely more than two weeks.
I started Moby Dick in January. My initial excitement for the whale hunting expedition drove me on into February. But by the time March came around, I was still only half-way through the book. Even worse, I found myself actively avoiding picking the book up. I would sneak other books into my bedroom and finish those first. And then I would feel guilty because Moby Dick was still sitting there, reminding me that I had failed to finish it and challenging me to come back and complete it.
I’m not sure where the book went wrong for me. Perhaps it was the language. Or the detailed and largely irrelevant chapters that gave all kinds of whaling information but did not move the story. Or maybe the story just didn’t resonate with me.
It took me almost 3 months to make the decision to abandon the book. I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t feel that I was learning anything from it, despite it being considered a literary masterpiece. And because I hadn’t finished the book in a reasonable amount of time, I was feeling guilty, especially when I started reading something more enjoyable in the meantime.
Relief
I made the conscious decision not to finish the book. To abandon it on page 203 of 540 pages. To even go as far as to donate the book to a local charity, as I admitted to myself that I will never go back and finish it. I rarely don’t finish a book.
The relief was palpable. I immediately felt less stress about taking a more enjoyable book to bed. I didn’t feel like I had to avoid that spot on the nightstand where Moby Dick had collected dust for months. By choosing to quit the book, mid-sentence, I had achieved closure, even though I failed at my intended goal. And that’s when I realized that it is okay to quit. Pushing through the book did not serve the purpose I had hoped - it no longer created pleasure or taught me any valuables lessons. In fact, the stress and guilt I felt because I thought I needed to see the book through to the end were surprising, in retrospect.
Business Applications of the principle
This lesson reminds me of an experiment I saw at a large company I worked for. A coworker had in his job description that he must produce several time-consuming reports each week and forward to a list of managers. There were no comments or questions from the recipients about the information he provided. He decided to stop sending the reports out. After several weeks where nobody had noticed, he even went as far as to stop preparing the reports completely. I am not sure to this day if anyone ever noticed. He was caught in a legacy trap - doing something that didn’t create any value as the circumstances that needed the original report had either changed or disappeared. But to complete the duties on his job description, he was tasked with doing something worthless every week.
The Lesson
Moby Dick was just a book that I chose to read. And yet by choosing to start the book, I felt obliged to finish it. This caused stress and anxiety because it remained outstanding as an open loop. The lesson I learned is to look at everything in your life with the same lens. What do we do because we have already started it and momentum and feeling that we need to complete it are strong? Is it essential and is this the right thing that you should be spending time on? Often, it is easier to continue to do the same activities because they are familiar. We tie our egos into completing these tasks not because they add value, but because we started them.
I challenge you to look at the things that you are doing and ask yourself, does this activity still provide any value in my life or the lives of the people that matter to me. What are the consequences of not performing the action?
And, if it doesn’t add value, give yourself permission: it’s ok to quit.