546. Finding the Courage and Design to Quit

Lynn Marie Morski

Lynn Marie had recently co-founded a health tech startup on medical tourism. “All of my cylinders were firing at the same time. But the sinking feeling in my stomach told me something wasn’t right.” She faced the hardest “quit” of her life.

Lynn Marie Morski, MD, Esq. is a physician, attorney and lifelong quitter. Through her “Quitting by Design” website, she helps people carve out successful lives through strategic quitting. Her goal is to de-stigmatize quitting and illustrate what a useful tool it can be in creating a fulfilling life. When not helping people to and through their quits, she is a physician at the Veterans Administration and an adjunct professor of health law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. Outside of medicine and law, Lynn Marie trains people in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, plays the guitar and bass, and does work in election reform.

How Did You Start Using Your Talents?

Lynn credits her parents, who instilled a love of learning and encouraged her to explore her interests, for much of the courage she needed, not only to explore new things, but to know when to quit. Her concept of “strategic quitting” is nothing like the unthinking quitting out of anger and frustration. Instead, she has learned to trust her own sense of when it is time to quit and to do the preparation and research for her next step.

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

She was a co-founder of a health tech startup, a platform to provide information about medical tourism worldwide, and held the titles chief medical officer and in-house legal counsel. “The startup had a lot of things that were on my desired attributes list: working from home or a coffee shop; making my own hours; and getting to use my medical and law education and a little bit of my multimedia background. All cylinders of my brain were firing at the same time. I loved all that. But there were a lot of aspects I didn’t like. Namely the uncertainty, the lack of any kind of income, and the fact that there was no free time. No time off. She began having physical symptoms and knew she had to quit. It was easily the hardest quit of my life.”

The Most Powerful Lessons Learned?

“You need to plan for a successful quit. There are many types of quits and some of them are terribly unsuccessful. For example, if you have a fight with your boss, storm out and quit, you are not prepared for that. You are burning bridges right and left. To quit successfully, you need a lot of methodical thinking ahead of time. What will be my next step? What financial preparations should I make? It may involve downsizing part of your life temporarily, getting new skills, taking on some side jobs. Logistically, a lot of those things can be tackled before quitting.”

Steps to Success from Lynn Marie Morski

If your body is constantly giving you signals that something dreadful is about to happen, something is wrong. You need to re-evaluate what you’re doing.

Don’t sacrifice your health or sanity out of fear that you will be labeled a quitter.

Don’t hold yourself back by letting the things you imagine people would say about you if you quit. These are imaginary concerns inside your head.