There are times in life when a strategic retreat is necessary.

We can all agree that there is value in persevering. But is there value in the opposite? Is there ever a good time to give up?

Let's have a look-see.

In war, there are times when you can find yourself in an unfavourable position. En route to another location, you found yourself smack dab in the middle of an enemy ambush. In Leon!'s case, this often happens when customers approach us for an exciting project in our wheelhouse- but their budget can't match our fees.

You'd probably think that "giving a freebie" or a discount here is the right move.

In some cases, you'd be right.

But put simply, animation is costly and reducing budgets almost always prevents us from doing the highest quality work possible. Without the ability to deliver high-quality work, our clients are unlikely to be satisfied, and their audience is unlikely to understand their intended message.

So, we do the same thing that troops caught in an ambush would.

Strategic retreat.

Retreating (giving up ground) allows us to occupy more favourable terrain, fend off the attack, cause an enemy retreat, and then resume our forward march. 

We save ourselves and our clients from a lousy situation where neither of us benefits by continuing with unsuitable work. 

The Game That Time Forgot

Sometimes, we bite off more than we can chew.

While it's probably not the best idea to dismiss the advice of a great mind like Winston Churchill's to "Never give up!" it's also not wise to consider it entirely without context. In the case of Adam Butcher, this turned out to be true. His 2014 documentary captured his attempt to build "the game he'd always wanted to build." 

Inspired by the Lord of the Rings, he set out to create a story in which "Tobias", his character's name, found and defeated the source of all evil in the universe. Of course, you can't do this in a handful of levels.

As time went by, Adam would complete his game multiple times, but because times had moved on and his skill had increased, the older game elements would fall out of date.

Adam had a big vision for this game but was coding every element himself. 

Sunk Cost Fallacy and Pride

Had Adam built a team or outsourced some of his work, he could have completed the game long ago. Taking on a massive project like this game was impossible without a team, as he admits in his video.

After investing over 13 years of his life, Adam eventually finished his game.

By his admission, he refused to adjust his plans and could not give up on the game, despite how much he'd already invested in it. In psychological terms, this is called a "sunk cost fallacy", where we, as people, find it harder to give up on things in which we've invested a lot.

So- instead of wasting a decade of your life on a project, relationship or personal ambition, rethink the value of giving up.

Wisdom From Warren Buffet

Given that Mr Buffet is one of the most successful investors in the world, we could probably consider his advice just as crucial as Mr Churchill's.

According to Mr Buffet:

"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

As far as Mr Buffet is concerned, giving up is an essential skill to the ultra-successful. Of course, we can read between the lines and realize that he's referring to things like giving up on "wasting time socializing" or giving up on "partying every Friday" if you want to be successful.

But he also means giving up on opportunities that aren't fruitful.

There is no world where Mr Buffet entertains every investment that comes his way, or else he'd probably have been broke by now. Instead, he invested his time into learning what makes good and bad investments so he could "give up" on more of the bad to say yes to more of the good.

Steve Jobs shared his sentiment:

"People think focus means saying 'Yes' to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully."

How Can You Learn To Give Up

There are times in your life that you can probably reflect on right now and accept that things would have turned out better if you’d given up on the situation earlier.

Learning how to say no is a skill. It requires that you become more assertive to stand your ground or find a funny and creative way to smooth things. Like this gentleman:

Either way, giving up can be one of your most productive career and life decisions. You'll save yourself the stress and even open up new possibilities by "strategically retreating to more suitable terrain."

So, if you want us to make an animation for not very much money, or even worse, for free– forget about it!

However, if you've got a budget and an idea– give us a call!

Check out the rest of Leon!’s Simplification Commandments here.