I Almost Quit | How I Beat Burnout and Pressed Record Again

I was at a marketing conference. Standing in a circle of other presenters. And when someone asked me about my podcast, I had to smile and say I hadn't put out an episode in a while.

Twelve months. A whole year of silence.

Not because I lost interest. Not because I had nothing to say. Because I decided it wasn't good enough. And then I spent twelve months trying to make it perfect before I came back, which meant I never came back at all.

This is my comeback episode. And it is not a polished, "I figured it all out" comeback. It is an honest, still-figuring-it-out comeback. Which is the only kind I know how to do.

If you have ever quit something you loved because you decided it wasn't good enough, this one is for you. The journal you stopped writing in. The Etsy shop you stopped logging into. The blog you archived. The dream you stopped saying out loud. I see it. I am in it with you.

I quit because I decided it wasn't good enough. And looking back at it now, that is one of the most ridiculous sentences I have ever said out loud.

In This Episode

Why high-functioning women quit the things they love and why it is almost never about being lazy or too busy.

The marketing brain trap. I turned a creative outlet into a production job with deadlines and impossible standards. Here is what happened when I finally put the marketing brain in the closet.

The "I'll come back even stronger" lie. We all know this one. The thing that started as a skip week turns into nine months and now you are hiding from strangers at conferences.

The one question to ask yourself when perfectionism is stalling your next move. Not five steps. One question.

Your assignment for this week. The smallest, ugliest, no-production-value version of the thing you have been avoiding. That is it.

Key Takeaways

1. You do not quit in a big moment. You quit in tiny little decisions. "I'll skip this week." "I'll come back stronger." "I just need one more thing in place." And then you look up and it has been nine months and you cannot even mention it to strangers without wanting to disappear.

2. When the standard is impossible, you do not get higher quality output. You get silence. The only way to not fail an impossible standard is to not show up at all. That is not protection. That is the thing itself breaking.

3. The standard is not "perfect." The standard is: I did the thing. Done beats perfect. Consistent beats prolific. It exists, I made it, that is the bar.

4. Perfectionism is not about caring more. It is about caring in the wrong direction. It is caring about the output so much that the output stops existing. Which is the opposite of what you were trying to do.

5. The comeback does not have to be big. Not a relaunch. Not a redesign. Not the cinematic return. Just the smallest version of the thing, pressed record and published.

Resources Mentioned

Unstuck Yourself by Jamie Cole The self-care workbook on getting unstuck, setting boundaries, and building a life you actually like being in. The perfectionism section is the one that broke this episode open for me. jamiecole.co/unstuck

Find Jamie on Instagram:@jamiecoleco DM her and tell her what you want to hear next.