Hey Reader,

Got an interesting listener question on this week’s pod.

It was just me this time, with Alice out for work.

So I worked through a bunch of questions on my own.

This one was about DNFs, which, in running, means “did not finish.”

The listener asked how people deal with a DNF in running and in life in general.

She shared that she’s a small business owner and is contemplating a DNF for her shop.

It’s not really serving her anymore.

And her question was, “If I close it, am I a failure?”

I really loved that she took something from running and connected it to her life like that.

And I could relate to where that question came from.

🧠 Keeping going for the sake of it

As high performers, handling DNFs can be a really big deal.

We’ve built the mental toughness to push through hard things.

You can point to a lot of great things you’ve achieved because you didn’t give up when it got tough.

There’s also this whole mindset that you never DNF and see what you’re capable of.

It’s really good to be honest.

But so often we go into things because we think we should.

The goal definitely made sense when we started.

So when something starts to feel off, and the little voice in your head starts to say to quit, we can’t tell if we want out because it’s hard, or because it no longer aligns.

So we just push on.

We have those “If I close it, am I a failure?” moments.

And because stopping feels a lot like failing, we keep going.

But in retrospect, are we really focusing on the right thing?

❤️ Weigh it up against the bigger picture

What I regret more than failing is never making the change, and never finding out what else I’m capable of just for the sake of keeping going.

One of the big messages I took from one of my favourite professors at business school was, “Quit early, quit often. Be the best quitter you know.”

Quit until you figure out the thing that really lands for you.

As soon as you figure out something that’s not aligned, quit quickly, recalibrate, take the learnings, and readjust until you land on the thing that matters.

The best way to handle a DNF is to look at it in the context of the bigger picture.

What were your goals going in? What have you learned so far? And does this thing still line up with what’s important to you now?

It really helps to ask yourself that outside of the moment, when you’re calm.

That reframe makes it an honest choice between stopping because it’s hard and stopping because it’s not aligned.

Sometimes the answer is to keep going, and you go again with fresh purpose because you know exactly why you’re still there.

And sometimes the answer is that it doesn’t fit anymore, and you can stop without feeling like a failure.

And you’ll ultimately find joy and fulfilment in all you do.

So what’s something you’ve been pushing through?

Think about why you’re still holding on.

Are you afraid of failing, or does it still serve the big picture?

Be honest.

If it’s the fear, what would you want to give that time and energy to instead?

And if it still matters to you, what would help you go again with fresh purpose?

Think about something meaningful that would make it exciting again.

Or let go.

You’ve got this.

With appreciation,

Huw

P.S: I answered this and a bunch of other listener questions on this week’s pod.

I also shared why I quit running for 4 years, what pulled me back, and loads more interesting stuff.

Worth a listen.

Ep 28. Huw quit running? Fac... Sep 29 · Two Average Runners 27:13   ​

Huw Edwards Founder & CEO, h3.xyz​

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