The Association for Psychological Science is reporting that sometimes, quitting may be good for you.

Miller and Wrosch suggest it may be more prudent to cut one’s losses in the face of an insurmountable obstacle. “When people are faced with situations in which they cannot realize a key life goal, the most adaptive response for physical and mental health may be to disengage from this goal,” write the authors.

This goes with a theme that I talk about a lot: knowing when to cut your losses. The example that’s easiest to use is that of an investor who buys stock in a company. He watches the stock go up and he gets excited. Then the stock goes down and he gets worried. The stock value goes up again and he gets confident that while it may fluctuate, it will keep going up.

But then it drops. Slowly, but steadily, it drops a little bit each week. Because he’s sure it’ll go back up, he doesn’t sell it. This loyalty to the sinking stock will end up costing the investor significantly.

There are many possible causes for this logic-defying loyalty to a thing, a person, or a cause in our lives. Sometimes it’s because that thing, person, or cause has given good things in the past and we’re hoping — indeed, expecting — that one day those good things will return. Other times it’s because the object of our loyalty is something we’ve invested in heavily with our money or time or energy, and we feel a need or expectation to get a return on that investment. And sometimes, that thing or person or cause has changed, and we’re really only hanging on to what once was.

This is not to say that perserverence is bad, or foolish. But a reality check is good from time to time. In the face of an unrealistic, unattainable goal, sometimes it’s better to cut your losses.