Book of the Week: The Dip
14 Sep 2014
This week I read The Dip by Seth Godin. It is a book that tells you when to quit and when to stick to it. Previously I read the Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I like his books, because they are short and to the point. He conveys information without wasting my time. Quitting is a very important topic that is not discussed as much as it should be. Quitting is stigmatized. This topic has been tackled by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt in Think Like a Freak. They have a rebroadcast of The Upside of Quitting on their podcast. I recommend listening to it. The Dip
The Dip is the long slog between starting and master. A long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path. Quitting creates scarcity; scarcity creates value
The Dip is what separates everyone else from those who are the best in the world. If it was easy to get through the dip, then there would be no value in being on the other side of the dip. The best in the world are rewarded much more than anyone else. If you want to want at motorsports, you want the best driver in the car designed by the best engineer maintained by the best crew. You don’t want someone who is a decent engineer and decent driver. The problem is that most people pursue something that doesn’t have a dip and they waste their time. Quitting is about opportunity cost. The Lie of Diversification
Hardworking, motivated people find diversification a natural outlet for their energy and drive. Diversification feels like the right thing to do.
Diversification seems like a safe bet, but you are just wasting your time. Sometimes people are too hardworking ant motivated for their own good. They need to do less better. People who are the best in the world at X are the ones that succeed. The marketplace does not reward people who have a lot of mediocre skills, because people get the best if they can afford the best. Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World.
- You run out of time (and quit).
- You run out of money (and quit).
- You get scared (and quit).
- You’re not serious about it (and quit).
- You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
- You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
- You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best the world (because you don’t have the talent).
Average is for Losers
Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.
The problem with people who don’t quit is that they become average. This reminds me a bit of Good to Great, great companies focus on areas where they can be the best in. There’s no point in being #2 in a market, where you could take that energy to become #1 in another market. Think opportunity cost. Quitting is good if it allows you to become the best in the world at something. The problem is that you need to be able to realize that opportunity.