The Dip  (English, Paperback, Godin Seth)

The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits Of Knowing When To Quit (And When To Stick) says sometimes, quitting can be a good idea.

Summary Of The Book

To excel at any task, many factors are needed. These include skill, aptitude, hard work, perseverance, focus, and the drive to succeed. When it all falls in place and results in success, it feels good. However, many people do not always aim at this level of excellence.

The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits Of Knowing When To Quit (And When To Stick) says that each person should assess what they are doing when they come up against a hurdle. If what they are facing is a dip, they need to try and climb it, because in the end, it might be rewarding and lead to better things.

On the other hand, what they have come up against might be a dead end. In that case, they need to quit and concentrate their energies on something more constructive. The author says that it is a fallacy that winners never quit. They quit, and they quit frequently.

What makes them winners is that they know when something is just a drain on their energy and decide to focus on other productive channels. Sometimes, quitting takes more resolve than perseverance. Wasting time and energy on trying to come out through a dead end is just not advisable.

To be successful in life, a person needs to excel at one thing. Having many skills, being well rounded with proficiency in multiple subjects might be good at school, but not when it comes to one’s profession. Being the best at what one does really counts. The author stresses the value of being number one in any field. He quotes figures of top ten lists and shows there is a huge difference between number one and number two, in any context.

So, excellence is the main criteria and to excel at anything, one needs to focus all their energy and skills on it. This cannot be done by wasting them on unproductive tasks and dead end jobs. So, making a decision about when one has come upon a cul de sac and giving up is vital. Quitting in this context is not weakness, but shows common sense and resolve. It leaves the person free to start over again and focus on something that will be more rewarding if they put their energy into it.

The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits Of Knowing When To Quit (And When To Stick) teaches readers that quitting is good when done for the right reasons.

About Seth Godin

Seth Godin is an American entrepreneur, marketer and writer.

Some other books by this author are eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway, The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas, and Unleashing the Ideavirus.

Seth Godin is a marketer and entrepreneur. He started many innovative businesses like Yoyodyne and Squidoo. He has written numerous books on marketing, leadership and change. He pioneered the idea of permission marketing.