Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time

A few months ago I wrote about Seth Godin’s book ‘Poke the Box’ which encourages us to try and explore new things. The book is full of inspiration and will motivate you to start something new. The thing is the book only tells you to begin something but it does not tell you what to do in between or when to stop. The Dip, his second book that I will cover here, talks about why and when you should consider quitting. Most of us have been told to not quit all the time. Vince Lombardi, an American football player and coach, even had a famous saying “Winners never quit and quitters never win”. But is it really true? Seth Godin’s short book tells us differently.

Why do we need to quit? Quitting is necessary so we can allocate our resources and our time to focus on things that matter most to us. There is 24 hours in a day and within that you can only do and achieve so much. With such limited time, we need to be selective in what we do to accomplish our goals and be the best in what we do. Seth explains that being the best is important because there are only a few people at the top and scarcity creates value. The key is to quit smartly.

Strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations.

So when should we quit? Seth illustrates three main situations that we should recognise as signs for time to quit– the Dip and the Cul-de-Sac.

The Dip

Think back when you first start learning something new. Were you excited? Did you feel like you have achieved so much in such short time? But after a while, did you start feeling less excited or sometimes even bored or feeling like giving up? That’s the Dip. Depending on what you are learning, the Dip can be short or really long. However, if you can push through the Dip, you will be highly rewarded.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery

It is important to identify the Dip before you start on your journey. Successful people are able to select a journey knowing that they can lean into the Dip and push through it. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Quitting in the Dip, though, isn’t worth the journey

The Cul-de-Sac

Like the name suggested, the Cul-de-Sac is a situation where you face dead end. Seth describes it really well:

It’s 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. It just is.

It is a state of stagnant. That’s it, full stop. There is not much to say about the Cul-de-Sac. Seth believes that you just need to identify when you are facing the Cul-de-Sac and quit, not as soon as possible, but now.

Stick with the Dips that are likely to pan out, and quit the Cul-de-Sacs to focus your resources

In his book, Seth goes into some detail on the different types of the Dip that we are likely to face in our lives, for example manufacturing dip which is a situation commonly faced by a new company on its way to scale up production. He also provides high level guidance on how to identify if it is time to quit by asking three questions:

• Am I panicking?
• Who am I trying to influence?
• What sort of measureable progress am I making?

Photo inspired by 'Failure Is Not An Option'

Whether you can relate to any of the above descriptions or not, this book is worth a read. It throws a different light on how the world should perceive quitting. Being able to quit smartly can make you successful in whatever you do.

If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try