CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- We are always told to "never give up." but one expert said sometimes "quitting" is the best move.
"I think we need to change the narrative completely around quitting," said John List, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the chief economist at Lyft.
John List is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the chief economist at Lyft, and has also worked for Uber and the White House. He has written a new book called, "The Voltage Effect", in which he examines some of the benefits of quitting.
The book explains that realizing you need to go in a different direction is not weakness, but honesty - and often productive.
"We should look outside and look at how our opportunities are changing, and when our opportunities get better, that should also lead us to quit. That works with relationships, it works with apartments, it works with jobs," List said.
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List said the next time you need to quit, don't think of it as walking away, but like a quarterback, it's more like calling an audible. "Winners call audibles," List said.
"We have a really large scale study whereby we randomly had some people quit and some people not quitting, and what we find is that in the long run if you quit more often, you're going to be a lot happier," List said.
"Don't keep beating your head against the wall. Solve the optimal quitting problem, and look around periodically and that will make your life better."
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