The Dip
For Christmas Alison gave me “The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To
Stick)” by Seth Godin. It really is a little book. I sat down today and
read it. It is a really good book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants
to accomplish something. It doesn’t matter if that something is health-related,
geared toward professional development, relationship-based, or even a very
personal goal. This book outlines a common-sense approach to goal setting,
decision-making, and attaining success.
“The Dip” focuses on how to succeed by making three key
points – why it is important to be the best in the world at what we do, how to
recognize a dip, and when to quit.
Being number one brings a lot of value. Number one accrues
immense value because as a society we love winners and we seek out the best. If
you are sick you want the best doctor, if you are looking for music to listen
to you look for a great song. Being the best attracts users, listeners,
friends, admirers, supporters, etc. But it also is important because there is
scarcity in the world. We have a finite amount of time and resources. Because
of this scarcity, there are a limited number of options out there. We cannot all
be number one at everything it is too hard. The difficulty makes it scarce,
which makes it valuable to be number one.
The main idea focuses on this graph – the dip.
When you start something new it feels great. You are
learning a lot and there is a lot of rewards – you see great results for your
limited effort. As you continue with the endeavor the rewards drop off and it
becomes more difficult. This is the dip, where most people give up. It is the
barrier to success. Seth Godin posits that this is the point where successful
people, the ones who become the best in the world, lean in and push through the
dip. Because on the other side of the dip is mastery and greater reward. The
trick is to recognize the dip and to be willing to work through it.
The final important point is to know when to quit. Inside
the front cover of the dip is this quote, “The old saying is wrong – winners do quit and quitters do win.” Seth Godin teaches about two
other graphs – the Cul-de-sac (a dead-end/mediocrity) and the cliff (escalating
commitment leading to failure). The trick to success then is recognizing when a
project or path is going nowhere and quitting early and often. Once you have
quit you can refocus the energy you were using to a more worthwhile pursuit. Quitting
is a good long-term strategy, but is not effective when it is a short-term or shortsighted
decision. The key is to use quitting as an intelligent strategy. As Seth Godin
writes, “To be a superstar, you must do something exceptional…The next time you
catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have
only two good choices: Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.”
All our successes are the same. All our failures, too.
We succeed when we do
something remarkable.
We fail when we give
up too soon.
We succeed when we
are the best in the world at what we do.
We fail when we get
distracted by tasks we don’t have the guts to quit.
-Seth Godin
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