The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick)

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One reason people feel really good after they quit a dead-end project is that they discover that hurting one's pride is not fatal. You work up the courage to quit, bracing yourself for the sound of your ego being ripped to shreds--and then everything is okay. This first curve is where you work and work and work… but nothing changes. It doesn’t get a lot better, it doesn’t get a lot worse… it just is what it is. This is what you’d call a “dead end job”– it’s not going anywhere.

The Dip by Seth Godin: Summary, Notes, and Lessons - Nat Eliason The Dip by Seth Godin: Summary, Notes, and Lessons - Nat Eliason

It’s human nature to quit when it hurts. but it’s that reflex that creates scarcity. SO – quitting when you hit the Dip is a bad idea. If the journey you started was worth doing, then quitting when you hit the Dip just wastes time you’ve already invested. Quit the Dip often enough and you’ll find yourself becoming a serial quitter – starting many things but accomplishing little. SEVEN REASONS You Might Fail To Become Best In The World I think it’s because of this tendency to not plan ahead that we get the maxims about never quitting. If we always quit when things get hard we never achieve anything. But we must also make sure we are exerting ourselves towards our actual goals and achievements. The dip is your best friend. The brave thing to do in life is tough out the dips and end up on the other side. On the other side, you will benefit from being the best in the world. As well as being brave, you also have to be smart. Godin suggests the smart thing is to not bother starting tasks that are too difficult. If you do, you will be too ill-equipped to make it through the dip. Several people do what Godin calls the ‘stupid thing’ when encountering the dip. The stupid thing to do is start something and waste time and money into overcoming the dip. Then, quitting right in the middle of the dip. Never quit until you fall off. If your pursuit is worth doing, then it is worth fighting through the dip. In fact, avoiding such hardness by doing only easy things won’t get you very far and it’s even risky. For example, if you worked at a retail store and only had to refill the shelves, you’d be easily replaceable. Instead, if you become the best at handling difficult customers, you’ll be precious for the company you work for.

Success!

The author tells you never to quit if you are in the dip phase. It is actually an opportunity coming in the disguise of an obstacle. This is your best opportunity to make it big One of my favorite things is one of the main threads of the book — that many businesses today expect you to quit and take advantage of it. They provide certain services expecting many people to pay but not use the service (like gym memberships). The rough idea for The Dip first materialized on Godin's blog. [2] On an entry titled "The four curves of want and get," Godin shows four curves representing patterns of adoption. [3] He ends the post with "How do you avoid killing something too early, or celebrating too early. And last, how do you know when to kill a dud," a theme that would reappear in The Dip. Five months later, Godin posted another entry titled "Understanding Local Max," in which he presented another success curve—this time nearly identical to the one that appears in his book—and analyzed the hypothetical conversation that would occur at four points on the curve. [4] In addition to being the basis behind The Dip, the entry was also included in Small is the new Big, a collection of short pieces from his blog. It’s easy to BE a CEO… what’s hard is GETTING there. There’s a huge dip along the way. If it were easy, there’d be too many people vying for the job, and the CEOs wouldn’t get paid anywhere near as much. Scarcity is the secret to value. If there wasn’t a Dip, there’d be no scarcity. If It’s Worth Doing, There’s Probably A Dip. The Dip creates scarcity, and scarcity creates value. What To Do About Them To overcome the dip, you need to embrace increasingly hard challenges. It’s like in bodybuilding: to grow more muscles you have to lift up heavier and heavier weights. That’s why bodybuilders always try to push their limits further. Think of your personal development as a muscle: no pain, no gain.

Book Summary: The Dip by Seth Godin | Sam Thomas Davies

Choose the shortest line, however if something slows you down (someone doesn’t have enough money on their card, they have a complaint, or you notice a broken item), you can switch ONCE (at most) to a faster line.If you’re not able to get through the Dip in an exceptional way, you must quit. And quit right now.” What sort of measurable progress am I making?If you’re trying to succeed in a job or a relationship or at a task, you’re either moving forward, falling behind, or standing still. There are only three choices. I will keep in mind that when things stop challenging me I should quit, when there is not a future in sight on the path I am on I will quit, and that sometimes there are good reasons to plan to quit, and simply good reasons to quit. It’s simple to BE a CEO; the difficult part is getting there. Along the way, there’s a significant incline. If it were simple, there would be too many individuals fighting for the job, and CEOs would be paid far less. The secret to value is scarcity. There would be no scarcity if the Dip didn’t exist. There’s Probably A Dip If It’s Worth Doing. Scarcity is created by the Dip, and value is created by scarcity.