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Ever stuck with something just because you said you'd do it--even if that goal didn't serve you anymore? I think we all have. Today's guest completely upends the perseverance culture with her new book, The Case For Quitting.
Lindsay Crouse has spent her career at the intersection of running and storytelling — and her new book will completely change how you think about quitting.
Lindsay ran at Harvard and later, came within 8 minutes of the Olympic Trials Marathon standard. But most of you probably know her name from The New York Times, where she spent fifteen years as a senior editor and producer, breaking some of the biggest stories in women's sports — including the reporting that helped push Nike to guarantee pay for pregnant athletes and the story of Mary Cain's troubling time at Nike.
Now Lindsay is channeling everything she's learned about grit, ambition, and burnout into her first book, The Case for Quitting.
We dive into:
🌀What drove her to challenge this idea that PERSEVERANCE is always the answer
🌀How quitting can be one of the most courageous & empowering thing we can do
🌀Signs (& questions to ask yourself) that it is time to quit
🌀The importance of intention in the choices we make (big & small)
RESOURCES:
Book, The Case for Quitting
IG: @lindsaycrouse
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 — Mother runners and perseverance culture
- 03:20 — “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”
- 09:34 — Healthy hard work versus pointless grinding
- 13:18 — Is your hard work actually working?
- 17:32 — When a marathon goal stops serving you
- 18:36 — Letting go of an Olympic Trials qualifying goal
- 22:32 — Chasing faster marathon times and moving goalposts
- 23:05 — Training through injury and redefining success
- 27:25 — Running in seasons, not constant progress
- 45:27 — Healthy striving versus detrimental striving
Whitney Heins is a mom of 2, a lifelong runner, a VDOT-certified running coach for moms who run, and founder of the resource, themotherrunners.com. When training for her first marathon as a mom, she found a dearth of information related to running and motherhood. She also felt extremely isolated as a new mom. As a former TV journalist and a freelance writer she decided to use her skills to fill the void with an online resource and community, called The Mother Runners. Whitney also recognized a need for run coaches who understood the demands of motherhood, so she also became a running coach—unearthing a passion for helping moms reap the rewards and empowerment of running. Coming out of a long injury cycle, she ran a 2:54 marathon and 1:20 half marathon in her 40s. She lives in Knoxville, TN with her husband, two kids, and three dogs.
