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Loading... The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (edition 2007)by Seth Godin (Author)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 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!) Good career advice Horrendous life advice The entire book talks about how you must focus on one thing, one single thing. This is not bad advice but he went on to say that if you are not better than the 99% in a thing you must either focus on that thing or abandon it, hobbies included, he went on to say that you have to organize when you will abandon a task and if you will. This is horrendous advice. We humans are very bad at making previsions, how do you know if you like piano if you never play it? How do you know that you don't like snowboarding if you have only take a few lessons? Maybe there are certain things that you like at beginners level but not on competitive. But let say that you know that you will like a thing and you will become better than the 99% of people in that thing, there is another problem, just like our body needs varied food in order to remain healthy a healthy mind needs varied sources in order to stay healthy, this is because our brain like to experiment and connect ideas and sources trying to produce something, so having a large number of resources make so your brain has more to connect. This book gives some good career advice like "even if it is a high paying, high position job, a dead-end is still a dead-end if you want to advance you need to find another job" And if this was all that the book had to offer I will give it a good 4 star, but there is another problem, this book is too long, people on reviews were not joking when they say that you could read the essence of the book in their review! Why he diluted his book so much I don't know, because of this i will give this book a 3-star rating. Feels like a lot of conjecture and a whiff of snake oil. How do you know beforehand what to quit? Godin says you can know that with certainty but I'm no fortune teller. There's nothing here to identify if you're at a cliff, in a cul-de-sac, or in a dip you should quit. Good luck figuring that out. To summarise the entire book, some things you should quit and others you should persevere with. Save your time and money, read something else. This book was recommended to me by a work colleague, and it's a short, quick read. The main point of the book seems to me to circle around an idea that is common sense: when people approach a task - marketing a new product, picking up a new skill, and so on - they need to persevere through the dip. The dip is that period of time when the work involved feels difficult and overwhelming, and the temptation to quit becomes pressing. The author contends that the difference between people who succeed, and those who fail, can be traced back to whether or not they pushed through the dip. If they make it through that slump, then they are rewarded with the money or recognition or expertise that most other people never achieve. The reason a lot of this felt like common sense to me was because I believe most people recognize that after the excitement of starting on a new project, there inevitably comes a time where the gloss of starting something new wears off, and we hit a slump. To me, that slump is the dip. The work feels harder, and it's easy to just stop. Most of this book is encouragement to not stop, using rhetoric such as anecdotes and hyperbole. The book also notes that the steeper the dip - the harder it is to finish, the greater the odds that are stacked against you are - the more success that awaits for those who get through it. I think all of this sounds reasonable, and matches what I've personally experienced when it comes to taking on new challenges. I also thought it was interesting that Godin provided descriptions of two other paths that might seem like a dip, but aren't: the cul-de-sac and the cliff. The cul-de-sac describes work that will never go anywhere no matter how hard people work, and the cliff describes work that seems to be going well before it abruptly collapses in failure. It's important to recognize that these other scenarios exist, because it's naive to believe that if things aren't going well, it's just the dip, and if you work hard enough you'll eventually succeed. However, very little time is devoted to how people can distinguish between the dip, a cul-de-sac, or a cliff. Considering that the main advice of this book is to keep going when things get tough, I would have appreciated much more explanation of how to tell if I actually am in the dip, or if my hard work isn't going to go anywhere after all. Also, I was put off by the book's voice and style. The author uses a lot of hyperbole, along the lines of: if you're not number one, then you fail! If you're not a winner, you're a loser! This kind of pep talk does not motivate me; on the contrary, it actually distances me from the message. Also, the book incorporates fake math graphs - no numerical data on the x and y axis, no explanation of the research that informed the graphs. In fact, at one point, the book declares that if someone were to create a graph about a certain subject, it would probably look like ... Basically, the graphs are just made up based on how the writer thinks they should look, and that kind of nonsense data bothers me. If you don't have actual numbers, use a different kind of visual device. To sum up, I agreed with the book's main premise, but I wanted it be more fully explained in a more objective manner, and I find the style of the book jarring. While on a recent trip to Madison, Wisconsin, I picked up the book The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)* by Seth Godin. This book has been referenced countless occasions on a number of podcasts I listen to. So I was very pleased while browsing through a used bookstore to find this book. I just finished reading it. While I believe the message is really important, I was underwhelmed by the book itself. Read More ¿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 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. 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. I was amazed at how much Seth Godin covered in this little book. He tells us three things: 1) It's okay to quit, 2) There are benefits to not quitting in certain circumstances, and 3) Here are the questions you should ask yourself to decide whether to quit or not. This book is very thought-provoking for anyone trying to decide whether or not to bail from their current situation. He doesn't have the answer for you, but he prods you into asking yourself the questions necessary to decide for yourself. Bravo, Seth. [The dip] by [[Seth Godin]] Essentially, this is a book about when to change your goals and when to persevere. Seth Godin covers the futility of wasting your time on useless goals and encourages devoting your time on really great goals. He does not discourage trying many things. He doesn't discourage perseverance, but useless perseverance. Most of us really won't ever become great professional basketball players. Or chess players. Or video game players. But we devote time to becoming perfected in areas where we lack the requisite skill. Rather Seth Godin encourages trying many things, and devoting time and energy to those things at which we're passionate and skilled. If we're just passionate about an activity but not truly skilled with unique abilities, then make it a hobby. The point of the book is for us to maximize our time on areas where our abilities align with our passions. A personal anecdote illustrates this. As a young person, teen, and twenties, I was a perfectionist. I wanted to be perfect at everything. I was naturally persistent; I never gave up on anything, because I succeeded at everything I persisted at, due to parental encouragement. However, as I grew older I grew more and more frustrated because I didn't have time to perfect all the areas I desired to perfect. I could not become a perfect athlete and great chess player and the best programmer and get ahead in business and become a perfect Christian. After much soul-searching and prayer, I realized only being a Christian was worth my life and time and I focused on that. I've never regretted it since. 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 short book. It made a point that is helpful to me to evaluate my current situation. Surprised by the mostly positive feed back for this old book (that is more the size of an essay). I found nothing useful here. Basically the premise is: when the going gets tough, be one of the few who muscles through and you'll reap big rewards on the other side of your struggle. Except when you won't. So then go ahead and quit because you're wasting your time. Seriously, that's the take-away - if you can call it that. 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 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. It almost doesn't matter if this book is any good or not, since it only takes about half an hour to get through. The advice is mostly good, some silly. If you've already made it in the world and are "the best," then you already have mastered the technique of either quitting or getting through the dip. Otherwise you are one of us poor schmucks who decided to read this book to improve your chances. Er... wait just a darn minute! Very useful for crunch time decision making. http://www.johblogs.com/2011/06/the-dip-by-seth-godin.html |
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