The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Seth Godin is a master at writing short, powerful, slap-you-in-the-face with inspiration, and put practical tools in your hands books and THE DIP is no exception. He also has a talent for taking patterns and principles and assigning memorable and helpful metaphors to them. It helps make the intangible something you can grab a hold of and use. THE DIP is very much like that as well.

I found this book incredibly helpful and liberating. The bottom line is that quitting is a good thing. At least when it is strategic rather than emotional and/or reactionary and this book helps you learn the difference. The subtitle is “A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick).” That is EXACTLY what it does.

In the concepts presented show more in this book, you will find applications to business as well as your personal life. The metaphor of the Dip and the Cul-De-Sac are easy to grasp and are memorable. They give you a filter through which to view your activities and your projects. I know I will never think of quitting in the same way again.

Favorite Concept: Setting Your Limits Before You Start

Favorite Quote: “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.”

I will definitely be reading THE DIP again. show less

I find Seth Godin's work a mix of interesting insights and um-the-real-world-is-more-complicated-than-that.

What I found useful in this book: the reminder that it's okay, and even a good idea, to quit things that aren't getting you anywhere.

What I found dubious:

1. The idea that it'll be obvious whether you're in a dip or a cul-de-sac. Sure, sometimes it will be when you step back and look at it, but I'm not convinced that it's always so clear. (What would Godin have told Madeleine L'Engle on year nine of her ten-year publication dry spell?)

2. Godin's apparent belief that there's no place in the world for a "best Renaissance man/woman" -- that the world has only room for specialists, and that there's no place for someone whose skills and show more knowledge are shallow but broad, no place for someone who can say "Hey, this thing in this field connects with that thing in that field; what happens if we work with that connection?"

3. Even for ultra-focused people, is their one specialty *really* the only thing they should be trying to be best at? You can either be the best programmer in the world or the best parent your child has, so you're going to quit the parent part because your spouse does better at that anyway? Really?

4. And ultimately, while the message that it's okay to quit is one I need, I think Godin goes too far. I'm not the best knitter in the world and unlikely to ever be. According to Godin, I should therefore quit knitting, despite the enjoyment I get from it. I'm not the best singer in the world and never will be, and therefore I shouldn't waste my time joining a community choir. I'm not going to be the best Spanish speaker in the world, so I shouldn't bother trying to learn a few phrases. Well, in that case, I don't want to be the best in the world in a single area, to the exclusion of all else; I want to be the best in the world at combining the activities and pursuits and maintenance that make my life a happy one.

So, an intereting and quick read, but on reflection, not one that's going to stay with me. show less

So the book is simple. Recognize the difference between projects that are cul-de-sacs or cliffs and avoid starting them. Then realize that all projects have dips and power through them or quit before devoting too many resources. Where the book falls short is in helping to recognize the differences in projects.

Short little book, with just one significant idea, wrapped in some fanfare and simplistic hyperbole. The reason I did enjoy it is that the author manages to extrapolates some good conclusions from a fairly basic premise, and succeeds in letting its basic message resonate for a long time.

Nice little book about 'the dip'--the challenging period where your efforts don't get the results you are aiming for. Godin says pretty much that anything worth doing has 'a dip.' If you press through and recommit to your goal, success awaits. At the end of the dip is an upward curve.

However some people stay committed to a 'cul-de-sac'--a deadend venture that won't get you anywhere. Others get the short-term gains before a sharp fall off the cliff. He calls this 'rare but scary.'

So how do you guarantee success? You commit to the right thing--specialize, don't diversify--and quit when you are in a cul-de-sac. That isn't quitting in a crisis, but having a strategy of when to quit and redirect and when to double down.

This is a really show more short book. It made a point that is helpful to me to evaluate my current situation. show less

The thesis of the book: whatever you’re doing, there will be a sucky part (“the dip”). When you hit it, you have to decide if you want to push through it to get what’s on the other side or not. You also have to evaluate whether there is an “other side” or if you’ve hit a dead end (“cul du sac”)

It’s not a bad message but it’s written in a stereotypical workaholic “hustle culture” tone and language, hence the rating.

In this worldview, “quitting” anything is bad and a sign of weakness so a huge chunk of this book is convincing hustle culture people to “quit” things that might distract them from their true goals, or to quit pursuits that aren’t getting results .

At the same time it says if you don’t quit show more things, then there’s untold rewards at the other side.

I don’t think the author intended this as some sort of “reverse psychology” contradiction — i just don’t think he worked the messaging out very well on it.

(Also, in 2023 the dated internet references are pretty fun!) show less

¿Para qué escribir un buen post largo si puedes alargarlo innecesariamente hasta convertirlo en un mal libro corto? En este libro de 80 páginas hay unas 10 buenas, y el resto es relleno o repetición. The Dip es el bajón, las dificultades que aparecen cuando la curva de aprendizaje empieza a no ser tan agradable, se trate de la actividad que se trate: aprender un idioma, pilotar un avión, dominar un nuevo lenguaje de programación, química orgánica. Cuando empezamos con una actividad nueva los progresos se ven, se perciben diariamente, hasta que no. llegamos al Dip, a la zona del bajón. Y el autor sostiene, y ésta es la principal idea del libro, que al alcanzar ese punto hay que abandonar muchas veces. Pero abandonar show more conscientemente, como táctica de combate.
Hay un dicho en inglés que es Winners never quit, quitters never win, con la que el autor no puede estar más en desacuerdo. De hecho además del dip mete otros dos tipos de evolución en una actividad (un trabajo, unos estudios...): el callejón sin salida y el precipicio. El callejón sin salida es aquella actividad en la que vemos que no mejoraremos con el paso del tiempo. Aquella en la que vemos que podemos quedar instalados en la mediocridad cuando hayamos echado todo nuestro esfuerzo. Y también habla del precipicio, que esa aquella actividad de la que no podemos escapar hasta que reviente y todo finalice de manera catastrófica.

Al autor anima a buscar callejones sin salida y precipicios en las actividades en las que estamos involucrados, y abandonar inmediatamente cuando percibamos una de las dos. Y si estamos en el bajón, aguantarlo, forzarlo, obligarnos a sacar todo lo posible de él. Si es algo que merezca la pena, probablemente contiene un Dip. Y la frase de "no abandones nunca" la reescribe como "no abandones nunca algo que estratégicamente es bueno a largo plazo solo por as dificultades que estás teniendo a corto plazo". Abandonar solo porque llegamos al Dip es un error.

No hay que ser el primero en todo, solo en una cosa. A nadie le interesa que un buen piloto sea capaz además de analizar la literatura francesa del XIX.

El libro tiene algunas buenas ideas sueltas más. Se agradecería algo menos de repetición, pero entonces ya ni siquiera podría ser un libro corto. show less