I’m not gonna lie: I’m a quitter.

Within the space of five years, I quit basketball. Soccer. Jazz dance. Honors classes.

I can’t really tell you why now. (Except when it comes to basketball. I’m 4’10” – and that’s reason enough.) I think (as I’ve mentioned before) that my childhood as a “gifted” child gave me some sort of complex against hard work. I truly believed if it was meant to be, I’d be awesome at it the first time. And I was heart-wrenchingly disappointed when I wasn’t.

So, I’d quit.

That said, I guess it should be no surprise that even though I’m obsessed with writing (always have been), there have been plenty of times I’ve wanted to throw in the towel on my business. Hurl my hands up in the air. Surrender, white flag waving. Head right back into my old corporate office. (Okay, cubicle.) (Okay, corner-that-was-specifically-mine.) (In their defense, they had a damn good salad bar that almost would make it worth it.)

But I think I’ve finally discovered the secret.

I don’t HAVE to be head-over-heels in love with what I’m doing, 100% of the time.

If I have a bad day here or there, it doesn’t mean I’m not meant to be doing what I’m doing.

EVERYBODY wants to quit sometimes.

The most successful, innovative, outstanding people out there have felt like saying “Fuck it.”

And maybe they even did say it.

For an hour. Or a day. Or a week.

…But then they came back to it.

And THIS is where the secret lies.

You wanna know WHY they came back?

Because the reason for doing whatever it is they’re doing is LARGER than the temporary discomfort they feel when things aren’t going their way.

We all know rationally that not everything comes up roses all the time.

But we still get thrown off when things don’t come easily.

We get pissed when we publish a blog post that took us three days to write & crickets chirp.

We get peeved when we launch some wildly fantastic & uber delicious idea – yet nobody bites.

We feel like failures if we’re not raking in five figures a month within our first year. (Aw, come on now!)

Sometimes, despite what people will tell you, LOVE just isn’t all you need, baby.

Sometimes, infatuation with what you do just isn’t enough to keep you going when the going gets choppy.

So, you need to know what ELSE motivates you to do what you do.

Enter, the “When I Want to Quit Remember This Sh*t” List.

I’ve heard the advice before. “Remember your WHY,” people often say. But remembering it and actually HAVING IT IN PHYSICAL FORM STARING BACK AT YOU DAY IN & DAY OUT is a totally different experience. So that’s why I now have a “When I Want to Quit Remember This Sh*t” list posted up on my desk, where it can’t be avoided or ignored.

I wrote mine last week. Here’s a peek:

When I want to quit, I will consciously remember the following…

+ How awesome it feels to be financially independent & stable (and the years I spent under the thumb of an  ex who used cash to control me)

+ That by writing for other women entrepreneurs, I can give them that same financial freedom

+ How much the 9-5 sucks: the drive, the boredom, the stiff back at the end of the day, the BLINDING white lights, alla the pollitickin’, the total lack of value & feeling disposable (ick)

+ I was meant for this! I had an online ‘zine at age 10. I’ve wanted to be an Internet entrepreneur before anybody even knew what that was!

+ Everything always goes better than I think it will (read: People like me! They really like me!)

+ I’m helping others. My clients want to like and trust me. I’m making life easier for them!

+ Even writers need fresh eyes & ideas (read: Even if I think somebody’s copy already ROCKS and I can’t do anything for them, sometimes all they’re paying me for is a fresh perspective. Therefore, I don’t need to feel like I have nothing to offer to even the greatest writers in the world!)

And there you have it.

It’s nothing fancy. It probably didn’t take me more than five minutes to write. But it’s saved my ass multiple times during its one week of existence.

The reasons I listed weren’t random. They’re BIG. They’re soul-level stuff. They really speak to me, and I think that’s important if you’re going to make a list like this of your own.  Usually by the time I get to item three, I’m already feeling a little bit better about tackling whatever hairy task is ahead of me.

So.

The lesson here?

Being cramazing (yes, that’s a mashup of crazy and amazing) isn’t about never feeling defeated. 

It’s about feeling defeated but MOVING AHEAD anyway.

 It’s about remembering why you do what you do. (Even if – for the moment – that’s just because you love seeing your name splashed across the Internet or the numbers crawling upwards in your bank account.)

Sometimes we need to take a look at the big picture to realize what a spectacular masterpiece we’re creating.

To Never Giving Up,