1. Quotes to ponder:
    1. "Quit the wrong stuff. Stick with the right stuff. Have the guts to do one or the other." ~Seth Godin
    2. "Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers." ~Seth Godin
    3. "If is scares you, it might be a good thing to try." ~Seth Godin
    4. "All our successes are the same. All our failures, too. We succeed when we do something remarkable. We fail when we give up too soon. We succeed when we are the best in the world at what we do. We fail when we get distracted by tasks we don't have the guts to quit." ~Seth Godin
  2. Not sure? Here are questions to ask yourself.
    1. Is this a dip, a cliff, or cul-de-sac?
    2. If you are in a cul-de-sac, how can you change it into a dip?
    3. Is my persistence going to pay off in the long run?
    4. Am I engaged with just one person (or organization), or do my actions in this situation spill over into the entire marketplace?
    5. When should I quit? I need to decide now, not when I'm in the middle of it, and not when part of me is begging to quit.
    6. If I quit this task, will it increase my ability to get through the Dip on something more important?
    7. If I'm going to quit anyway, is there something dramatic I can do instead that might change the game?
    8. Should I really be calling on IBM? Should I really be trying to get on Oprah?
    9. What chance does this project have to be the best in the world?
    10. Who decides what best is?
    11. Can we make the world smaller?
    12. Does it make sense to submit a resume to every single ad on Craigslist, just to see what happens?
    13. Is doing nothing better than planning on quitting and then doing something great?
    14. Are you avoiding the remarkable as a way of quitting without quitting?
  3. © 2012 Perusalocity. All rights reserved. Perusalocity Book Reviews and Mind Maps by Misty Guard (a/k/a Perusalocity Girl) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://perusalocity.blogspot.com/.
  4. Speed Reading Stats (h:mm:ss) 1st Read: Sneeze = 73 pages 2nd Read: Bless you = 73 pages 3rd Read: Sneeze = 73 pages Did I speed read it? Hells no! The book is 73 pages long. Common on people...that would take me less than a sneeze.
  5. Godin, S. (2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (p. 96). New York, NY: Penguin Group.
  6. Winners Quit All the Time
    1. "Quitters never win and winners never quit." ~Vince Lombardi
      1. Bad Advice!
    2. Winners quit the right stuff at the right time!
    3. The Infinity Problem
      1. There's just too much of it!
        1. Choices...cheapest, best, biggest...
  7. Quitting is Not the Same as Failing
    1. Is that the best you can do?
      1. Fail
        1. When you don't know when to quit
        2. When you refuse to settle
        3. When you compromise
    2. Biggest Mistake They Made in School
      1. Being well-rounded is the secret to success. = FALSE
      2. Exceptional = BEST
    3. Coping
      1. Doesn't lead you anywhere
      2. Mediocre work
      3. Wastes time & energy
    4. Pride
      1. Enemy of the smart quitter
      2. Wounded pride doesn't kill you
  8. Being the Best in the World is Seriously Underrated
    1. Surprising value of being the best in the world.
      1. US culture = Superstars, superstars, superstars
      2. Zipf's Law
        1. The best is the best.
        2. Everything from #2 on down does way less.
    2. Reason #1 Matters
      1. Limited time/opportunity = intentionally narrow our choices to those at the top.
      2. Not a linear scale.
      3. It's a curve...with a drastic, huge drop-off after #1.
      4. "Scarcity makes being at the top worth something." ~Seth Godin
        1. Why?
          1. People quit long before they create something that makes it to the top.
  9. What does "Best in the World" Mean?
    1. Best
      1. For them
      2. For right now
      3. Based on what they believe
      4. Based on what they know
      5. Subjective = consumer decides
    2. In the World
      1. Their world
      2. The world they have access to
      3. Selfish view = their definition, not yours
        1. Based on convenience and preferences
    3. Larger, smaller world
      1. We can look "everywhere" for what we want
      2. Categories are getting smaller, more specialized
  10. Magic of Thinking Quit
    1. Strategic Quitting
      1. Ability to see you are in a cul-de-sac or approaching a cliff = GET OUT!
      2. Conscious decision
      3. Quitting the tactics that are not working for your long-term strategy
    2. Reactive Quitting
      1. Quit when it is painful.
    3. Serial Quitting
      1. Always looking for the next best thing.
      2. Are you always standing in line? Too inpatient for your line to pay off?
    4. Rededication
      1. An new strategy to break the problem apart.
      2. Taking a new look, new approach = NOT static
  11. The Dip
    1. Almost everything worth doing has a DIP.
    2. Process
      1. Beginning
        1. Interesting & good feedback
        2. Rapid learning = keeps focus
      2. Middle
        1. Time between beginning and mastery
        2. Going from easy to hard.
    3. CEOs
      1. 25-year dip before being a CEO
        1. Needed to suck it up
        2. Keep his head down
        3. Do what he was told
    4. Surviving the Dip
      1. Lean into the Dip
      2. Push harder
      3. Change the rules
      4. Whittle at it = doesn't last as long
  12. The Cul-de-Sac
    1. Dead End
      1. Work, Work, and nothing changes
      2. Not worse, not better
      3. It just is
    2. Get off it...FAST
      1. Cost of staying = just too high
  13. The Cliff
    1. You can't quit until you fall off the edge = everything falls apart
    2. These are pretty rare.
    3. Think cigarette smoking = cancer/emphysema
  14. The Dip is Where Success Is
    1. Brave thing
      1. Tough it out = end up on the other side
    2. Mature thing
      1. Don't bother starting = you aren't going to make it anyway
    3. Stupid Thing
      1. Start, get it best shot, & quit in middle of the DIP
      2. Short-term decision
      3. If it's hard or hurts = stop
  15. 7 Reason You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World
    1. YOU QUIT
      1. 1. You run out of time
      2. 2. You run out of money
      3. 3. You get scared
      4. 4. You're not serious about it
      5. 5. You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre
      6. 6. You focus on the short term instead of the long (the short term gets hard)
      7. 7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world
  16. Curves You Might Have Seen
    1. Manufacturing Dip
      1. Ramping up for production = $
    2. Sales Dip
      1. Upgrading to a professional sales group
    3. Education Dip
      1. Learning something new
    4. Risk Dip
      1. Invest to get through the Dip
    5. Relationship Dip
      1. Invest in relationships when it is difficult, not urgent
    6. Conceptual Dip
      1. Abandon your assumptions
    7. Ego Dip
      1. Give up control
    8. Distribution Dip
      1. Getting to scarcity is hard
  17. Questions to Ask Before Quitting
    1. 1. Am I panicking?
      1. You can always quit later...wait until you are done panicking
    2. 2. Who am I trying to influence?
      1. A person is like climbing a wall...it may get taller before you clear it.
      2. A market is like climbing a hill...it is a slow process that pays off.
    3. 3. What sort of measurable progress am I making?
      1. Forward progress
        1. You must have some forward progress.
      2. Falling behind
        1. Giving up on progress = a waste of YOU!
      3. Standing Still
        1. No forward progress is a waste of YOU.
  18. Under What Circumstances Will I Quit?
    1. Write it down...NOW!
    2. Figure it out in advance.