Knowing the decisive moment

Why do some people suddenly opt out of doing what they’re doing so successfully? Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin & Hobbes, a comic strip which was so popular that it was syndicated daily from November 1985 to December 1995 in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide simply decided to stop one fine day when the comic collections were selling more than 30 million copies. Australian cricketer Glen McGrath quit test playing while the Aussies routed England in the Ashes an.d then left ODIs when they won the World Cup and he was adjudged player of the tournament. And now Oprah Winfrey says she’s going to stop her multi award winning TV talk show in 2011 after a blitz run of 25 years.

People have their different reasons. Some probably feel they’ve had enough, others that it’s time to move on, and yet others out of an impending fear of failure, oversaturation or even boredom. Watterson said he was leaving because he felt he had achieved all that he could in the medium; McGrath reportedly commented that it was better than being gently eased out when he wasn’t able to contribute the best for his country; Winfrey thinks, because a quarter century is long enough to be doing something. “When I’m done ...I’m done,” she revealed to her unbelieving audience.

Yet a lot of others hang on for a lifetime and more if they could when their ability, expertise or craft is clearly gone for all to see. It’s a fact that Einstein contributed nothing of much value to science for the last two-and-a-half decades that he lived compared to his earlier astounding breakthroughs and was increasingly isolated from mainstream research. Most critics are also of the opinion that the greatly acclaimed Satyajit Ray should have stopped making films after his medical condition deteriorated and that the last few films he did manage to complete after becoming semi-ambulatory were embarrassingly mediocre.

Admittedly, letting go of a good thing is difficult — especially when we’ve run with something for so long that it’s become routine. Smokers in general and those in failing relationships know this better than most people. Yet routine is what defeats us eventually; not the game plan. And there’s the trick: the game plan. It includes the immediate game being played but doesn’t necessarily exclude the rest. Very often it’s better to leave the moment behind before the moment has left us — because it always does.