According to Seth Godin, we quit things all the time. Most of us aren’t studying ballet or trigonomety any more. We quit. Likely, we quit at the right time.
But as business owners do we know when to quit? Can we identify the right time to stop what we’re doing and head in another direction?
Seth was in Ann Arbor, Michigan yesterday to talk about this very topic – which happens to be the subject of his latest book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches you When to Quit (and When to Stick).
‘The Dip,’ as he calls it, is that “long slog between starting and mastery.” He continues: “The Dip is the difference between the easy “beginner” technique and the more useful “expert” approach in skiing. (It’s)…the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accomplishment.”
The Dip is inevitable in anything in our lives that’s worth doing. Marriage has dips. Friendships have dips. Business has dips. Our spirituality or self growth has dips.
Yet the Dip is not a bad thing. Actually it’s quite the opposite. The Dip “is the secret to your success. The people who set out to make it through the Dip – the people who invest the time and the energy and the effort to power through the Dip – those are the ones who become the best in the world. They are breaking the system because, instead of moving on to the next thing, instead of doing slightly above average and settling for what they’ve got, they embrace the challenge. For whatever reason, they refuse to abandon the quest and they push through the Dip all the way to the next level.” And what is the next level…mastery.
Working through the Dip is about breaking the pattern of being average or good enough. Good enough is what keeps you in the Dip. The desire to be great at what you do is the driving force that will get you through the Dip.
You might be wondering what this has to do with quitting?
According to Seth, you have to know where you are and where you want to go to climb out of the Dip. First, you have to clearly see are you in a Dip – which has potential for excellence – or are you in a ‘cul-de-sac’ – which is a dead end that no matter how much effort you put out, you’ll never reach your goal.
If you’re in a cul-de-sac, you should quit and move on to something that isn’t a dead end. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean quitting your business – though it could. What it could mean is that you quit the way you market or promote your business for a new way. It could mean rebranding your business. It could mean looking at the world a little differently to find the advantage your product or service has over everything else and retooling your business in that direction. So it could mean a lot of things. But what a cul-de-sac clearly shows you is that you need to quit something you’re doing and do something else.
If you you’re really in the Dip, and not a cul-de-sac, there’s still some things to consider. Not every Dip needs to be crossed. So if you’re in the Dip ask yourself:
- Am I authentically excited about what I’m doing – even when it’s hard?
- Is the Dip the right size that I can get through it?
- Is getting through the Dip worth it?
If you answer ‘yes’ to all of these questions, then it’s likely that the Dip your in is worth working your way out of.
But if the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, you may want to consider quitting.
Are you in a Dip? How are you working through it? And if you’ve gotten through a Dip, share with us how.
Great post Dawud!
I am in a dip, several – or one big one – and reading this really helped to see my life with a different perspective.
Definitly worth climbing out of…
my relationship is one…and I’ve wobbled on question #2 before, I realize now that those wobbly times are when I’ve questioned being with him at all…but inevitibly, the answer is YES to all three.
With my practice and business…a defitine yes.
Still trying to work my way out, I don’t have the hindsight yet. However, this post is REALLY helpful!
Thanks!
Thanks for a great post Dawud, I’ve had a couple of dips:
The first one occured when I realized I didn’t have to be insane about my business anymore, and pushed through it with flying colors…which led to my second one where I decided to leave the garment industry and help others get Business Sanity.
Hi Dawud
Now I’m going to be very naughty 😉
My Dip and how we got through it:
The Kiss Business
Karin H. H.
Karin H.,
I don’t think that’s naughty at all. I’m happy you have the your ebook and your story to share.
I did take a look at your KISS Principle page and found lots of good info about what’s in your ebook. Perhaps I’ll grab a copy.
Dylan,
I love hearing that you can identify where you are. Thanks. Do you know how you’re going to proceed?
Dips are our friends, I think, and your three questions prove it, Dawud. When life gives us those dippy lulls, it also gives us time to take a breath and reflect. If we’re smart, we’ll use your questions and make best use of the lag time.
As for cul-de-sacs, sorry, I don’t know French 🙂
Susan Martin,
I had the same experience being a healer. When I hip my dip as a healer, it wasn’t worth the effort to go forward through the dip.
Carolyn Manning,
Yes. They are. It’s just the time in our business, in our lives, when things are not easy and flowing. It’s when we need to roll up our sleeves and do the work get to through the Dip – if we deem it worthy.
You don’t know French?
The dip interests me a lot. It kind of makes me wonder how many things I could have done really well at if I would have had more determination.
I’ve done a lot better with this in the last few years, but ducked out during the dip all the time when I was younger…
Court,
I’m with you. It makes a lot of sense to me as well. It seems the key that Seth is offering in the book is establishing which dip is worth working through.