The Quitting Framework
Decide when to quit with a simple sucks-vs-hard flow chart
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Bartlett reverse-engineered how he has quit effortlessly his whole life into a logical flow chart. It starts by naming what you want to quit, then splits the reason into two branches. If you want to quit because it is hard (a challenge you are not yet qualified for), you ask whether the challenge is worth the potential reward, and only quit if it is not. If you want to quit because it sucks (it is toxic or intrinsically unfulfilling), you ask whether you believe you could make it not suck, and if so whether the effort to fix it is worth the reward on offer. You quit when you cannot fix it, or when fixing it costs more than the reward justifies. Otherwise you do the work.
Origin
Bartlett devised it alone in a jungle in Costa Rica after leaving Social Chain, trying to articulate why quitting school, university, and his companies had always felt logical and easy. It became chapter 11, 'I Quit My Job', in his book Happy Sexy Millionaire.
Core principles
- 01Quitting is a skill, as important as knowing what to start
- 02You must quit one branch to grab the next, like a monkey swinging through trees
- 03Separate 'it's hard' (a challenge) from 'it sucks' (it's toxic or unfulfilling)
- 04Effort to fix must be weighed against the reward actually on offer
- 05Do the work only when fixing it is genuinely worth it
How to run it
- 1
Name the thing you're considering quitting
Identify the specific job, relationship, company, or commitment you are thinking about leaving. If you are not actually thinking about quitting, the framework does not apply.
Pro tip Write it down as one concrete thing rather than a vague feeling of dissatisfaction.
- 2
Diagnose the reason: hard or sucks
Decide whether you want to quit because it is hard (a challenge, you are not yet qualified, like mile 22 of a marathon) or because it sucks (it is toxic, intrinsically unfulfilling). Bartlett keeps these words intentionally ambiguous so you fit your own meaning to them.
Pro tip Be honest, difficulty and toxicity feel similar in the moment but lead to opposite decisions.
Watch out Do not confuse temporary hardship with something genuinely sucking, they route to different branches.
- 3
If it's hard, weigh challenge against reward
Ask whether the challenge is worth the potential reward. In the hard early years of his business the reward justified the hardship, so he did not quit. If a hard thing is not worth the potential reward, quit.
Pro tip The reward can be intrinsic, not just financial, the journey itself being worthwhile counts.
- 4
If it sucks, ask if you could make it not suck
Ask whether you genuinely believe you could change the situation so it no longer sucks. If you do not believe you can fix it, quit.
Pro tip Picture the specific actions fixing it would require, the meetings, conversations, or changes, to test whether it is really possible.
- 5
Ask if the effort to fix it is worth the reward
If you believe you could make it not suck, ask whether the effort required is worth the reward still on offer. Bartlett found the effort to change his diluted, lower-upside stake at Social Chain no longer justified the reward, so he quit. If the effort is worth it, do the work and fix it.
Pro tip Re-check the reward, not the effort, first, dilution and changed circumstances often shrink the upside you are fighting for.
Watch out Staying in something that feels bad, that you cannot change, or is not worth changing, is not courage, it is avoidance dressed as toughness.
In the wild
Bartlett started the company at 21, got heavily diluted as a young founder, and lost the top-level control he wanted. By the end it did not feel hard, it sucked. Running his own flow chart, he decided he no longer believed he could make it not suck, and even if he could, the effort of a year of global travel and countless persuasion conversations was no longer worth his shrunken reward as a diluted shareholder. So he quit, calling it a super easy, not brave, decision.
→ He left cleanly, went to Costa Rica, and wrote the book, later joining multiple boards on his own terms.
Common mistakes
Treating quitting as failure
Society glamorises starting and shames quitting, but you must quit one branch to grab the next. Refusing to quit on principle traps you in things not worth keeping.
Confusing hard with sucks
Quitting something merely because it is hard, when the reward is worth it, throws away wins, while grinding on something toxic wastes years. The diagnosis step is the whole point.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone stuck in a job, company, or relationship and unsure whether to stay and fix it or walk away.
Not ideal for
Snap emotional decisions or situations where you have not yet given the thing a fair attempt.
From the transcript
“Quitting in itself is just as much of a skill as knowing when and what to start.”
“Like a monkey swinging through the jungle in Costa Rica, they have to let go of the last branch in order to grab the next.”
“There's typically two reasons why people are thinking about quitting... because something sucks or because it's hard.”
From the episode
Lessons In Creating A Successful Life - Steven Bartlett - #301
Steven Bartlett