The Dip by Seth Godin: A Book Review
Quitting is a bad word.
Or at least most people think it is.
Seth Godin has other ideas.
In his book, The Dip Seth advocates for giving up. But before you get miffed, let's put this in context.
Everyone wants the best. You. Me. The customers. We aim to buy number one.
Is number one the same thing for everyone?
Number one is relative to every individual. What we can afford, what we prefer and what is proven are just some of the things that determines who takes the number one spot.
Being the best is the spot Seth says we should aim for. Because there's scarcity at the top, which makes everything there premium.
Getting there isn't easy. That's where The Dip comes in.
Seth says, "The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery." Basically that place between your first day of yoga and the third week when your stretching muscles are screaming.
Learning to how to tell the difference between 3 places is important.
1. The Dip
The place everyone who wants to be number 1 must push through
2. The Cul-de-sac
Dead end strategies that are killing you
3. The Cliff
Steady and steep incline to certain failure will help you know what and when to quit.
Getting through The Dip is painful and requires dedication. Which is why when you emerge on the other side, everyone values you more and are willing to choose you.
The act of quitting itself is not directed at an entire project. But just on tactics, processes and products you come up with that are not working and will not work.
So if you want to be a high end content writer, you have to stop taking every job and focus on the hard work of pitching to people who can pay you and appreciate your work.
And you can't quit in a panic. You need to have a quitting strategy.
Seth gives 3 questions we should ask ourselves before quitting.
"Am I panicking?"
You should quit when you are in control not when you are out of it.
"Who am I trying to influence?"
Is your audience just a few people? Why don't you switch and target a market instead and let them bring customers to you.
"What sort of measurable progress am I making?"
Tracking progress, even baby steps gives you an idea if what you are doing is working or not.
Seth Godin is a master of brevity. The Dip is about 53 pages (on my book app) and took me about an hour to read.
The questions at the end help you truly evaluate what you have learnt. And what to do next.
I enjoyed how simple this book was. You should read it if you are about to start a business, get into freelancing or go down a new path.
I know will definitely read it again.
