Is It Better to Be a Quitter?

by WiredBerries Editors — October 1, 2007

Hollywood movies would have us believe that persistence is the key to true happiness. Never give up and your dreams will come true, right? Not exactly, say the researchers who recently studied the physical effects of persistence.

What researchers found during a yearlong study is that when a goal was extremely unlikely, the admirable trait of perseverance became a liability. In a series of experiments, the psychologists exhaustively studied those who keep on going despite poor odds, as well as those who let go when the chance for success seemed slim. The scientists specifically compared teenagers with these two personality types to see how healthy and well adjusted they were.

The researchers found that individuals who tend to persist "no matter what" in obtaining hard-to-reach goals had much higher levels of a protein called CRP, which is an indicator of bodily inflammation. Inflammation is linked to several serious diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, suggesting that healthy but overly tenacious teens may already be on the road toward chronic illness later in life.

In fact, the "quitters" were healthier than the "bulldogs" by almost every measure. For example, in one study the psychologists looked at everything from indigestion and diarrhea to skin disorders, poor sleep, and headaches. Quitters suffered less across the full range of maladies. Furthermore, the bulldogs' stress hormones were much more likely to be off-balance, indicating that they are in a state of chronic stress.

"When people are faced with situations in which they cannot realize a key life goal, the most adaptive response for physical and mental health may be to disengage from this goal," advise the psychologists who conducted the study. In that sense, it's not really about quitting--it's about being willing to revise your dreams when needed and set more realistic goals.

Turns out that comedian W.C. Fields was giving some decent advice when he cleverly revised that 19th-century maxim: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," he said. "Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it."