Winners Quit. Quitters Win.

Quitting is deeply misunderstood, says decision-making expert Annie Duke. You must stop thinking of it as failure, and start thinking of it as a strategy for growth.

- By Jason Feifer

When successful entrepreneurs tell their stories, they often speak of perseverance: Things were hard, but they did not give up. It's an inspiring message, but it can also be misleading. "In order to succeed, you are going to have to stick to hard things," says Annie Duke, a former professional poker player who teaches decision strategies in the executive education program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "But also, in order to succeed, you're going to have to quit the things that aren't worth pursuing."

Quitting has a bad reputation, and Duke is out to clear its name. It's why she wrote her new book, Quit. "We should think of quitting as a virtue, a characteristic that we want to develop," she says. That's especially true for entrepreneurs, who may equate quitting with failure-and therefore may ignore the warning signs that their business is in trouble, in turn wasting their investors' money, their employees' efforts, and their own time in finding more promising ways forward. Here, Duke explains how and when it's best to quit...or at least, to leave the option on the table.

What do you think entrepreneurs misunderstand the most about quitting?

Entrepreneurs are go-getters, and they're brilliant. They bring great value to the world. But if you're stuck in something that isn't worth pursuing, you're not allowing yourself the other opportunities that you might also pursue. That's a concept that we call "opportunity cost."

"Grit" gets you to stick to hard things, but it also gets you to stick to hard things that are not worthwhile-and that stops you from being able to switch to what is worthwhile.