[OptimalPerformance]

To quit or not to quit?
~~That is the question.~~

One of the most difficult decisions we all have in life is to know when to quit, or when to hang in for the long hall. It is a decision that is presented to us in our relationships, in our work, and in our sport. Many of us either quit too soon, or stay too long. To find the ~right~ action is one of the arts of living.
How many times have you pushed though a work situation, ignoring the bodies quiet little signals informing you that there is a problem, until the little signals became bigger, and louder, and finally result in breakdown, upset and possibly illness?
Or, how many times have you been pushing the red line with schedules and deadlines and felt so bad that your body and mind pleaded with you so loudly and persistently that finally, you quit?
Usually we have either a tendency to quit too early, or to push beyond the red line.
Whichever category you fit in to there are strategies and steps you can take to make sure that your actions are the right actions for you. When these strategies are followed, you will know easily when it is time to quit, or when it is time to push on.

Strategy #1
Prevention.
The more you train the more energy and effort is required to be put back into the body.
Think of it like an equation. The goal is; energy out =energy in. Training = energy out. Energy in =high quality food and fuel, rest, massage, physical therapy such as chiropractic and/or physiotherapy, food supplements.
If you increase your energy out-- if your training load and/or effort go up, you need to put more back in. Make sure you get the massages, go to the chiropractor/physiotherapist, get enough sleep and eat nutritious food.

Strategy #2
Listening
An athlete needs to become an acute listener; their body being the instrument they are listening to. Any subtle changes are significant. With the busy lives that we lead, with all the thoughts and activities that consume us, sometimes it is hard to listen. Creating quiet time to listen is a part of this strategy. On a regular daily basis, take 5-10 minutes to sit quietly and listen/feel what is going on in your body.
Is there any pain; is there any soreness, tightness? How is the energy flow? Is the energy blocked anywhere? Do you feel sluggish, excitable? If there is any pain, what is it telling you? Slow down? See a specialist therapist? Do more stretching? Get more sleep? Eat more/less protein?
Tuning into the subtle messages of our body is an art, and will be a skill that develops over time. Practice listening and then act on the information that you receive.

Strategy #3
Training with body mind and soul.
There is a tendency to separate our body from our mind and from our soul. A highly evolved athlete listens to all three aspects with focused attention during training.
Strategy #3 requires skill in Strategy #2 to be really effective.
There is much talk about being in the ~zone~. Anyone who has been there knows what it feels like. Strategy #3 takes listening to the next level. Listening to our body mind and soul while we are training. Almost complete internal focus. Imagine your body and mind as a highly sophisticated computer game, and you, the soul, are the player, manipulating the controls. Feedback says ~too hard~, then you, the observer soul, gets to adjust accordingly. Mind says ~I am really taking easy street today~, then you, the observer soul gets to turn up the heat. Many of us do some of this automatically. Strategy #3 asks you to go to another level, where you are so tuned in to you, as if you are listening to the quite hum of a breeze, or a river, in the background, at the same time as you are training.

Strategy #4
Truth telling plus taking action.
As we progress through the strategies, the degree of difficulty is becoming harder. This is one of the greatest challenges to life. When to know what is the truth, or course of right action for us, and what is not.
Strategy #4 is a subset of strategy #2.
It starts with a question. For example. ~Should I quit?~
Now that you have learnt to listen acutely, you will possibly hear several answers. ~Yes, quit.~ or ~No, stay in the game~.
Which one is the right one for you?
Generally the truth is the answer that is quiet, calm, un-emotional, peaceful, and steady.
The answer that is loud, impatient, controlling, bossy, and demanding is generally the course of wrong action. If you continue to debate between the two messages, then it often indicates that you are trying to force your own agenda, over the truth.
An integral piece of this strategy is trusting yourself enough to know the difference. That trust will be developed the more your listening skills develop. Finally it requires that you take action on your listening. To take action requires courage and faith. You will make mistakes as you master this, however, if you stay tuned in you will also detect the mistakes much more quickly and be able to correct.