The Temptation to Quit

When the weight of leadership meets the whisper to walk away

I wanted to quit earlier this week.

Not in a dramatic, storming-out kind of way. Just a quiet, creeping thought I couldn’t shake. A whisper that said, "I don’t want to do this anymore. Maybe I should try to be employable—even though I know I’m probably not."

I’m not physically drained. My Oura ring says my Sleep Score’s fair, Activity’s wearing a crown, and I’m in the “Good” zone. But there’s a different kind of weight—one you won’t find in REM cycles or heart rate variability.

It’s the kind of heaviness that comes from staring a little too long into the future. Reading too many think pieces about AI, the fragility of our systems, or the slow erosion of things I once believed were solid. It’s the subtle panic that maybe the world is shifting faster than I can build and contribute something meaningful inside of it.

And then there’s the part no one really talks about: the weight of being a mid-40s man trying to provide for a family. Trying to lead a company. Trying to ensure that not just your own kids have what they want and need, but that your team’s kids do, too. I know the violin is small because I’ve got way more than enough, and it’s a beautiful burden, but it's a burden nonetheless.

Coming off the high of a soul-filling fishing trip with Josh (Part 1 & 2 here), one of those rare stretches of days that fed my spirit, it’s easy to feel the contrast when I sit back down in my office. Payroll is due, the problems are there, and the vision still needs to be pushed forward. There’s a letdown in that. The joy of the mountaintop doesn’t always translate cleanly to the valley of Monday morning.

I’ve tried to make a commitment to say these things out loud. I told my friend Chris. I shared a version of it with my wife, Rachel (mostly over text, as she’s been visiting colleges with my newly 17-year-old daughter, Cana). I’ve learned that hiding it only adds to the weight. There’s real power in just saying, “This is heavy right now.”

And yet—I’m not going to quit.

I’m listening to “Fire in the Hole” by Bob Parsons—founder of GoDaddy, PXG, and a few other billion-dollar bets. He threw out a line that landed hard: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you’re about to succeed.”

That idea inspired this piece.

At Silent Partners, we’re right in the middle of a big pivot. We just finished another AI Adoption workshop for an executive team. It went really well. The feedback has been energizing. This thing we’ve been building, refining, pressure-testing behind the scenes, it’s working. It’s creating clarity. It’s helping leaders step forward into a complicated future with more confidence.

That matters.

So no, I’m not quitting. But I do think it’s worth naming that I felt like I wanted to. Not to alarm anyone. Just to normalize the truth that even the people who seem like they’ve got it mostly figured out… don’t, always.

If you’ve ever had the thought—"I want to quit"—this is me saying: same. And also, keep going. I hope you’re closer than you think. I trust I am.

PS-”Fire in the Hole” is a MUST LISTEN. If you want to, just put “Bob” in the comments and I’ll send you the audiobook read by Bob.