Review: The Dip — A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)
Author: Seth Godin
“I feel like giving up.
Almost every day, in fact. Not all day, of course, but there are moments.
My bet is that you have those moments, too…
Most of the time, we deal with the obstacles by persevering. Sometimes we get discouraged and turn to inspirational writing, like stuff from Vince Lombardi: ‘Quitters never win and winners never quit.’ Bad advice. Winners quit all the time. THEY JUST QUIT THE RIGHT STUFF AT THE RIGHT TIME.”
Intro
The dip is a very short book (I read it in about 90 minutes). Seth Godin wrote it to help people recognize when it’s time to quit something versus when it’s time to persevere.
His main reasoning is that quitting when you can’t be one of the best can make sense. In other cases, sticking with it is exactly what will make you one of the best. The key is recognizing what kind of situation you are in.
We need to learn to discern when to continue something and show grit and when something is not a wise use of our time.
Ratings
- Likelihood of recommending a friend to read? 📚📚
- Likelihood of recommending a friend to purchase? 💰
- Positive Influence: ⭐⭐
- Time to read (more stars is more time): 🗿
- How related to business? 🕴️🕴️🕴️
“People don’t have a lot of time and don’t want to take a lot of risks. If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer of the navel, you’re not going to mess around by going to a lot of doctors. You’re going to head straight for the “top guy”…(w)hy screw around if you only get one chance?
…With limited time or opportunity to experiment we intentionally narrow our choices to those at the top.
You’re not the only person who looks for the best choice. Everyone does. As a result, the rewards or being first are enormous. It’s not a linear scale. It’s not a matter of getting a little more after giving a little more. It’s a curve, and a steep one.”
Two or Three Favorite Things
Most people quit. They just don’t quit successfully. In fact, many professions and many marketplaces profit from quitters — society assumes you’re going to quit. In fact, businesses and organizations count on it.
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).
This principle also applies to achieving goals. There are lots of doors, classes, certifications and tests put in the way to certain jobs.
One of the reasons is to make it harder to break into the field. If we want to do so, we have to push through the Dip to get there. Godin says:
If you learn about the systems that have been put in place that encourage quitting, you’ll be more likely to beat them. And once you understand the common sinkhole that trips up so many people (I call it the Dip), you’ll be one step closer to getting through it.
Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.
Extraordinary benefits also accrue to the tiny majority with the guts to quit early and refocus their efforts on something new.
In both cases, it’s about being the best in the world. About getting through the hard stuff and coming out on the other side.
Quit the wrong stuff.
Stick with the right stuff.
Have the guts to do one or the other.
It really is a big deal to stick with something that will allow us to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s more easily done by being one of the best.
The biggest thing to remember is there a long period of growth that Godin calls the Dip but others call the Plateau.
It can be long and arduous.
It requires grit.
That’s why Godin’s focus is on making sure that we know what we want and if it’s worth it.
There is a price to pay.
If we’ve made sure the effort is worth it then it very often will be.
Another thing I liked from the book was about deciding beforehand when to quit.
We have to think ahead and decide what needs to happen for us to give up.
If we don’t think about the difficulties and pains ahead of time, the Dip may likely cause us to give up at the wrong time.
Godin quoted an ultramarathoner Dick Collins as saying:
Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don’t want to be out there saying, ‘Well, gee, my leg hurts, I’m a little dehydrated, I’m sleepy, I’m tired, and it’s cold and windy.’ And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision.
This rule applies to learning a language, taking a class, obtaining a degree, starting a job, or pretty much any endeavor we take on.
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.
“Coping is what people do when they try to muddle through. They cope with a bad job or a difficult task. The problem with coping is that it never leads to exceptional performance. Mediocre work is rarely because of a lack of talent and often because of the Cul-de-Sac. All coping does is waste your time and misdirect your energy. If the best you can do is cope, you’re better off quitting.
Quitting is better than coping because quitting frees you up to excel at something else.”
Personal Impact
Personally, I agree with the message of the book. I think maybe his definition of the Dip is a little simple and I would have liked him to delve into The Dip itself a little more since it was the title of his book, but I think it’s important we recognize that it’s good to quit sometimes. I am a person that can often say “yes” to everyone and everything and spread myself too thin. I want to learn everything. And I can’t. I will never be great if I try and do everything. But I should pick things that are important to me and work through the Dip on those things so I can be truly great at them.
The idea is not to cope with things that are not the best options for us.
I also liked how he pointed out that there is a good time to quit and a bad time.
The good time is before the Dip when you analyze the costs and benefits and decide if the costs are worth it to you.
The bad time is when you are getting close to realizing the benefits after spending a lot of time, effort and possibly money trying to reach a goal.
I think there are times that that can be a good time to quit disagreeing with the author. I think we spend time, effort and money on things not worth it. It happens. We make mistakes. But those costs are sunk. And if we suddenly realize or get new information that there is something else with a benefit we want and whose costs we’re willing to pay, it’s okay to abandon one item for the other. The key being that the quitting is part of our long-term thinking and not the short-term alleviation of pain.
“Never quit.
What a spectacularly bad piece of advice…Never quit wetting your bed? Or that job you had at Burger King in high school? Never quit selling a product that is obsolete?
Actually, quitting as a short-term strategy is a bad idea. Quitting for the long term is an excellent idea.
I think the advice-giver meant to say, ‘Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can’t deal with the stress of the moment.’ Now THAT’S good advice.”
Final Thoughts
I thought the book had a great message and got some points across. I feel like he could have analyzed, evaluated or explained more deeply his when it’s time to quit versus when you should not quit. But overall, his main message is clear and correct. I definitely think it’s a beneficial message to most of us so that we all spend less time and money on the wrong things and more time and money on the right things (whatever those are to us).
The book is very short and easy to read; I’d recommend checking it out from the library or borrowing from a friend unless you find it for cheap. But there is value in the message so whatever works for you.
“Quitting is not the same as failing.
Strategic quitting is a conscious decision you make based on the choices that are available to you. If you realize you’re at a dead end compared with what you could be investing in, quitting is not only a reasonable choice, it’s a smart one.
Failing, on the other hand, means that your dream is over. Failing happens when you give up, when there are no other options, or when you quit so often that you’ve used up all your time and resources.
It’s easy to wring your hands about becoming a failure. Quitting smart, though, is a great way to avoiding failing.”
