The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick)

The challenge is simple: Quitting when you hit the Dip is a bad idea. If the journey you started was worth doing, then quitting when you hit the Dip just wastes the time you’ve already invested. Quit in the Dip often enough and you’ll find yourself becoming a serial quitter, starting many things but accomplishing little. Simple: If you can’t make i

so wait until you’re done panicking to decide.

Actually, quitting as a short-term strategy is a bad idea. Quitting for the long term is an excellent idea.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Successful people don’t just ride out the Dip. They don’t just buckle down and survive it. No, they lean into the Dip. They push harder, changing the rules as they go. Just because you know you’re in the Dip doesn’t mean you have to live happily with it. Dips don’t last quite as long when you whittle at them.

Quitting is difficult. Quitting requires you to acknowledge that you’re never going to be #1 in the world.

In fact, the people who are the best in the world specialize at getting really good at the questions they don’t know. The people who skip the hard questions are in the majority, but they are not in demand.

every day you get better at something that isn’t that useful—and you are another day behind others who are learning something more useful.

Because day to day, it’s easier to stick with something that we’re used to, that doesn’t make too many waves, that doesn’t hurt.

the smartest people are realistic about not imagining light when there isn’t any.