The Dip (book)

A while back I read a book by author Seth Godin titled, "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick)". It was quite interesting and honestly a bit unsettling. According to Godin, the "dip" is the barrier between those who try and those who succeed. The book helps you to think about the long-term consequences of quitting. Certainly there are some things we should never quit and learn the biblical character qualities of patience and perseverance. Things like following and obeying Jesus, family life (marriage & parenting). However, there are some things where we have to consider and ask, "Is _______ worth my time and effort? Should I persevere or quit?" It may be a project, a relationship, a business, a ministry or whatever, we all travel through dips. The point is, for the sake of our life's God-given calling, gifts, talents, resources and purpose we need to carefully decide our priorities and investments.

Here are a few quotes I jotted down from the book. Enjoy,

"Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time." p.3

The "biggest obstacle to success [and effectiveness] in life... is our inability to quit soon enough." p. 22

"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." p. 23

"A woodpecker can tap 20 times on 1000 trees and get no where, but stay busy. Or he can tap 20,000 times on one tree and get dinner." p. 29

Here are 7 reasons you might fail to become the best:

1) You run out of time and quit.

2) You run out of money and quit.

3) You get scared and quit.

4) You're not serious about it and quit.

5) You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre and quit.

6) You focus on the short term instead of the long and quit when the short term gets too hard.

7) You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world.