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As kids, many of us were taught not to be "quitters". Whether it was your sports team, you were learning an instrument or you wanted to get down from the table before you finished your dinner... we've all been there and we've been taught the same thing.

One thing that I've realized is: it's equally important to know when to quit.

For example, businesses fail all the time... they can start off with amazing ideas, but nothing is a guarantee. MySpace is a great example of this. In it's day MySpace was a game changing idea and even though I won't go as far as saying it "failed", it's certainly not used as it once was. For some (or many) reason(s) it just didn't last once Facebook entered the race.

The original owners of MySpace made a very tidy exit and sold the company for just under 600 million… maybe they saw the tide changing? Or maybe 600 million was too much to refuse? Either way they did well to quit while they were ahead.

This year MySpace was sold for a fraction of what it was once worth (about 35 million). Not a great result for News Corp.

Being blindly persistent will hurt you eventually.

Whether things have been going well and you're worried about a change in the tide or your idea has never really taken off, it never hurts to take a step back and weigh up all of of your options before making a decision. I don't pretend to have all the answers but these are some of the things I think about...

Are there any glimmers of hope?

I had been considering quitting work on a startup that had been taking a lot of my time and energy. We hadn't had much traffic or the uptake we'd hoped for, however, overnight we got reviewed on a tech blog and then next day we had hundreds of people tweeting about us. The "glimmer of hope" showed me that there was interest in the idea and it was much too soon to give up.

What's at stake?

Sometimes these things require some risk, but as with gambling... don't risk something that you're not ok to lose. Nothing is a sure bet. Set a deadline or a budget and if nothing happens within those limits take a step back. Maybe you're doing something wrong? Or maybe you need to get some help? Or maybe it's just time to let it go?

What's the alternative?

What else could you be doing with your time & resources? Maybe you have other ideas or are involved in something else that could really benefit from your more focussed time and energy. If you're not doing anything else and it's not costing you a lot of money don't give up, don't be a quitter! Sometimes All momentum can be good momentum, keep going until something better shows up.

Any one else have thoughts/ideas/experience in this area?