let me ask you a question and i want you to be honest are you engaged in the kind of remarkable work that you know you're capable of or do you feel like you're stuck in a dead-end job do you think of quitting as an admission of failure or as a sound business strategy well stay right there don't move because we're about to cover seven key lessons from an enlightening book that will teach you about how to stop wasting your time on dead ends and instead focus all your energy on the stuff that makes you remarkable
i'm talking about the dip by seth godin before we jump into the lessons from this book let's talk about what seth calls the curves that define the situations we face first let's talk about the dip the dip is the long slog between starting and mastery here's what the dip looks like initially trying something new is fun and you see results quickly then you reach the dip right here the dip is the chasm between mediocrity and success getting through it requires hard work and dedication for example if you want to master a skill if you want
to be truly remarkable you have to push through the dip you have to persevere now let's talk about the cul-de-sac the cul-de-sac is a situation where you work and you work and you work and nothing much changes it doesn't get a lot better it doesn't get a lot worse here's what it looks like it's a long and painfully uneventful trudge that never pays off a cul-de-sac is a dead end it's a path to nowhere it's a waste of your time your effort and your talent but it feels safe so people stick with it it's the
job a person refuses to quit or the path a person refuses to abandon even when they know they should almost every situation we face can be defined as either a dip or a cul-de-sac however seth tells us about one more curve a bonus curve he calls the cliff the cliff is a quasi-curve it's not really a curve it's a situation where you can't quit until you fall off and the whole thing falls apart it's a path to disaster here's what the cliff looks like the cliff is a situation where you get a little reinforcement for
your effort over time until one day the music stops and the party is over you get the same disastrous result as the cul-de-sac but the cliff has a much more dramatic ending now that you're familiar with the curves let's study the lessons from this book lesson one the dip is a barrier to entry in a competitive world adversity is your ally the harder it gets the better chance you have of insulating yourself from the competition the truth is that most of your competition is not willing to endure the dip and so the dip is your
opportunity to create distance between you and the competition the dip is the secret to success it's the fastest path to your goal and anything worthwhile anything worth your time effort and resources probably involves a dip now let's move on to the next lesson lesson two the value is concentrated at the top seth explains this concept as follows the dip creates scarcity scarcity creates value the market winners win really big number one makes exponentially more than number ten let's use soft drink sales to explain this concept the percentage of sales are skewed highly to the left
in the short head of the graph which is comprised of just a few market winners namely coke and pepsi everyone else in that industry is fighting for crumbs the value at the top is so much higher for two reasons first in a super crowded marketplace people want an easy and reliable choice they pick the brand they know will deliver no thought necessary it's a quick and easy decision the second reason value is so much higher at the top is because competition up there is intense and it requires substantial resources to play the business game at
that level competing with coke or pepsi's distribution systems or marketing operations is almost certainly suicide however the little guy or gal the small business still has hope because the overall market consists of lots of micro markets and each micro market has a winner thus the solution for small business people is to niche down find a micro market and aim at one single bowling pin to knock over this is the key to taking market share from the dominant players now let's move on to the next lesson lesson three getting to the top requires focus not diversification
seth says just about everything you learned in school about life is wrong but the wrongest thing might very well be this being well-rounded is the secret to success the market rewards the exceptional people and companies narrow your focus to the skills plans and items that truly matter the things that make you or your team remarkable seth gives us a great example he explains that a woodpecker spends its day jumping around tree to tree pecking 20 times or so before moving on does nothing more than stay busy it does not find dinner however a woodpecker that
focuses its energy into one tree gets plenty of food now let's talk about the next lesson lesson four learn to quit strategically strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations reactive quitting and serial quitting however are the bane of those that strive and fail to get what they want strategic quitting involves an honest assessment of what kind of situation you're in right now so the first thing you need to do is determine whether you're in a dip a cliff or a cul-de-sac if you're in a cul-de-sac or a cliff situation it's probably time to quit
don't waste any more of your time energy and resources on activities that don't matter pivot to a better plan if you're in the dip you're probably on the right path but you need to be ready to do what's necessary to make it to the other side let's move on to the next lesson lesson 5 plan for the dip seth says the essential thing to know about the dip is that it's there knowing that you're facing a dip is the first step in getting through it if you make an honest assessment of the situation and you
don't feel like you have the will the resources or the time to make it through the dip don't start the journey quit now and devote your efforts to something that matters to you quitting in the middle of the dip is a total waste moreover you need to outline your quitting strategy before the discomfort of the dip sets in this will help you avoid making an impulsive decision to quit additionally if you have an objective plan it'll help you determine if you're actually in a cul-de-sac in which case quitting would be a great idea if you
determine that you're in the dip then follow lesson number six lean into the dip seth tells us never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of the moment successful people see the dip for what it is it's an opportunity for greatness once they know they're in the dip they lean into it and push through as we discussed earlier the dip is the way to your goal don't avoid it attack it head on and get to the other side here's the final lesson lesson seven go big or go home
seth says it like this 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 you are astonishing you are remarkable be the best in the world at what you do pursue the activities that leverage your talents or your team's talents give it everything you've got choose remarkable and be a superstar well e-learners that's it for the dip by seth godin i hope you enjoyed the lessons from this fantastic little book that is absolutely packed with useful and
inspirational information and i'll see you next time on mentally fit
