Successful people quit all the time, they just quit the right things at the right times, according to an article written by Tim Berry.

I have long preached that everyone needs to stick with their core competency and not stray from the things that made them successful. This is not just a nice idea I espouse - I have seen dozens of successful people stray from their core competency and almost lose everything.

If you are good at making widgets, then please be careful if you decide to build a commercial building with the idea that you will use some of the space and then lease the rest. If you can earn a great living as an attorney, you may want to consider resisting the temptation to buy a struggling company thinking you can turn it around. These  often consume huge amounts of time and cash, and they never had the promise of being anything worthwhile anyway.

 Yet for some reason our human nature allows us to risk everything by diverting our attention away from what we do best, for example my CFO Career. The point is this - stick to your core competency, and sustainable success will follow. Surround yourself with people who have different core competencies than you, and you could potentially build something greater than you ever imagined.

In these difficult economic times, many of these side projects are getting out of control. Quitting them is often the best option. So are you a failure if you quit? Go ahead and quit, focus on getting even better at your core competency over the next 10 years, and then let's see how you answer the questions. My guess is you will long have forgotten about these other things and you will have found more success than you know what to do with. Those who focus will thrive.