The best time to quit a project

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🔥 Today’s tip: Stop working when you’re in the middle of a hot streak.

Ernest Hemingway once explained that the key to writing well was knowing when to walk away: “Never pump yourself dry,” he wrote. “When you’re still going good and you come to an interesting place and you know what’s going to happen next, that’s the time to stop.”

As the writer Felicia Sullivan notes, it’s advice that helps with efficiency as well as creativity. In her own schedule, “I stop work in the ‘middle’ of things so I can easily resume my flow,” she says. “I always have something to return to that will excite me.” If you quit when you’re really in a groove — the ideas are flowing, you’re energized, the bigger picture is taking shape — it’ll be that much easier to get started next time.

📚 More from Forge on knowing when to call it:

The Key to Creative Work Is Walking Away
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To Boost Your Productivity, Embrace the ‘Hard Stop’
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The New Way to Know When You’re Done With Work
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