How do you know when you should keep going versus when it makes sense to cut your losses and try something new? It’s a difficult decision most entrepreneurs and creatives have faced along their journey and so we asked some brilliant folks from the community to share their thoughts.

Vincenzo de Leon | Music Composer & Performing Artist

I usually don’t. Some projects I sit with for months and months, and even after going away for a while I come back to it, finally able to make those changes that I’m satisfied with. Some other projects I just have a gut feeling that I will never discover what needs to be tweaked in order to be acceptable to me. It’s really hard to know, and a lot of times I am motivated one way or another by the conversations I have with my circle of friends and composers. Read more>>

Jaclyn Szabo | Wedding and Family Photographer

If it lights you up inside keep going, If it feels like something that drains your energy over and over again and it’s not in your heart let it go and make space for something that feels more aligned with you. Read more>>

Irene Gil-Ramon | Filmmaker & Visual Artist

Living in Los Angeles, you ask yourself this on a daily basis. One of the themes that drives my short, “Best Day of My Life (in LA)”, is precisely this dilemma: should I keep pushing or should I just give up? With ¨quiet quitting¨ looming in the background and a protagonist that has been running on empty for too long, it’s a personal love letter to the magic and often brutal city that is LA. Read more>>

Miles Lopez | Writer/Director

If giving up was never an option, then keep going. That’s always been my standpoint on this. There’s a lot of filmmakers out there who seem to always have only one foot in, which to me, is the answer to that question already. If you don’t have a true love and necessity to be a filmmaker, storyteller, or whatever your passion is, there’s nothing wrong with that. It can be a past-time that you do with your friends, or something you just enjoy learning about. Read more>>

Eli Pafumi | Songwriter, Producer & Teacher

I’m lucky to have always been in the presence of creators from many mediums. Coming from artist-teacher parents, a sense of rabid imagination was highly prioritized. I think that’s one of the most necessary muscles for creative stamina. Encouraged to take free-thinking risks from a young age and surrounded with kooky theater folk, freedom of expression was the lifeblood of our family rapport. I had a couple really monumental teachers and music mentors growing up whose lessons I still hold dear. Read more>>