The Dip

My bet is that you have those moments, too. If you’re the kind of high-achieving, goal-oriented person who finds herself reading a book like this, you’re probably used to running into obstacles. Professional obstacles, personal obstacles, even obstacles related to personal fitness or winning board games.

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.

No, the reason that most of them didn’t have a chance is that somewhere along the way they quit. They didn’t quit high school or college or law school. Instead, they quit in their quest to be the best in the world because the cost just seemed too high.

Scarcity makes being at the top worth something.

Where does the scarcity come from? It comes from the hurdles that the markets and our society set up. It comes from the fact that most competitors quit long before they’ve created something that makes it to the top. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. The system depends on it.

Best is subjective. I (the consumer) get to decide, not you. World is selfish. It’s my definition, not yours. It’s the world I define, based on my convenience or my preferences. Be the best in my world and you have me, at a premium, right now.

Faced with infinity, people panic.

only talented people fret about mediocrity

People settle. They settle for less than they are capable of. Organizations settle too. For good enough instead of best in the world.

In a free market, we reward the exceptional. In school, we tell kids that once something gets too hard, move on and focus on the next thing.

The people who skip the hard questions are in the majority, but they are not in demand.

Strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations. Reactive quitting and serial quitting are the bane of those that strive (and fail) to get what they want. And most people do just that. They quit when it’s painful and stick when they can’t be bothered to quit.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

It’s easy to be a CEO. What’s hard is getting there. There’s a huge Dip along the way.

That’s it. Two big curves. Stick with the Dips that are likely to pan out, and quit the Cul-de-Sacs to focus your resources. That’s it.

The Dip creates scarcity; scarcity creates value.

The Cul-de-Sac and the Cliff Are the Curves That Lead to Failure.

If you find yourself facing either of these two curves, you need to quit. Not soon, but right now. The biggest obstacle to success in life, as far as I can tell, is our inability to quit these curves soon enough.

In a competitive world, adversity is your ally. The harder it gets, the better chance you have of insulating yourself from the competition. If that adversity also causes you to quit, though, it’s all for nothing.

When faced with the Dip, many individuals and organizations diversify. If you can’t get to the next level, the thinking goes, invest your energy in learning to do something else.

Hardworking, motivated people find diversification a natural outlet for their energy and drive. Diversification feels like the right thing to do. And yet the real success goes to those who obsess.

Quitting is difficult. Quitting requires you to acknowledge that you’re never going to be #1 in the world. At least not at this. So it’s easier just to put it off, not admit it, settle for mediocre.

The challenge is simple: 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 the time you’ve already invested.

Quit in the Dip often enough and you’ll find yourself becoming a serial quitter, starting many things but accomplishing little.

Simple: If you can’t make it through the Dip, don’t start.

If you want to be a superstar, then you need to find a field with a steep Dip-a barrier between those who try and those who succeed. And you’ve got to get through that Dip to the other side.

This isn’t for everyone. If it were, there’d be no superstars. If you choose this path, it’s because you realize that there’s a Dip, and you believe you can get through it. The Dip is actually your greatest ally because it makes the project worthwhile […].

But wait, that’s not enough. Not only do you need to find a Dip that you can conquer but you also need to quit all the Cul-de-Sacs that you’re currently idling your way through. You must quit the projects and investments and endeavors that don’t offer you the same opportunity. It’s difficult, but it’s vitally important.

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 in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

So why don’t we cancel it? Why not quit?

Same reason as always.

Because day to day, it’s easier to stick with something that we’re used to, that doesn’t make too many waves, that doesn’t hurt.

I’d rather have you focus on quitting (or not quitting) as a go-up opportunity. It’s not about avoiding the humiliation of failure. Even more important, you can realize that quitting the stuff you don’t care about or the stuff you’re mediocre at or better yet quitting the Cul-de-Sacs frees up your resources to obsess about the Dips that matter.

If you’re going to quit, quit before you start. Reject the system. Don’t play the game if you realize you can’t be the best in the world.

The most common response to the Dip is to play it safe. To do ordinary work, blameless work, work that’s beyond reproach. When faced with the Dip, most people suck it up and try to average their way to success.

Which is precisely why so few people end up as the best in the world.

Average feels safe, but it’s not. It’s invisible. It’s the last choice—the path of least resistance.

The temptation to be average is just another kind of quitting… the kind to be avoided. You deserve better than average.

The Opposite of Quitting Isn’t “Waiting Around”

No, the opposite of quitting is rededication. The opposite of quitting is an invigorated new strategy designed to break the problem apart.

And someone with nothing to lose has quite a bit of power.

Short-term pain has more impact on most people than long-term benefits do, which is why it’s so important for you to amplify the long-term benefits of not quitting.

Persistent people are able to visualize the idea of light at the end of the tunnel when others can’t see it. At the same time, the smartest people are realistic about not imagining light when there isn’t any.

Winners understand that taking that pain now prevents a lot more pain later.

Getting off a Cul-de-Sac is not a moral failing. It’s just smart. Seeing a Cliff coming far in advance isn’t a sign of weakness. Instead, it represents real insight and bravery. It frees up your energy for the Dip.

The time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable.

When you’re facing a Cul-de-Sac, what’s your reason for sticking?

Are you too proud to quit?

Quitting when you’re panicked is dangerous and expensive. The best quitters, as we’ve seen, are the ones who decide in advance when they’re going to quit. You can always quit later-so wait until you’re done panicking to decide.

To succeed, to get to that light at the end of the tunnel, you’ve got to make some sort of forward progress, no matter how small. Too often, we get stuck in a situation where quitting seems too painful, so we just stay with it, choosing not to quit because it’s easier than quitting.

Let’s slow down and think that through for a second. Quitting a job is not quitting your quest to make a living or a difference or an impact. Quitting a job doesn’t have to mean giving up. A job is just a tactic, a way to get to what you really want.

So, there’s tool number one. If quitting is going to be a strategic decision that enables you to make smart choices in the marketplace, then you should outline your quitting strategy before the discomfort sets in.

The lesson is simple: If you’ve got as much as you’ve got, use it. Use it to become the best in the world, to change the game, to set the agenda for everyone else.

You can only do that by marshaling all of your resources to get through the biggest possible Dip. In order to get through that Dip, you’ll need to quit everything else.