Sisyphus

A copy of Seth Godin’s new book , The Dip, fell into my hands a few days ago. Like a lot of people, I think Seth is a very smart guy. His blog is a source of wonderful insights and great ideas.

The Dip is about knowing when to quit something, and knowing when to push forward. And as I move through the process of achieving my dream, his words are timely and encouraging.

Here is a snippet that caught my eyes and immediately struck me as The Truth…

Almost everything in life worth doing is controlled by The Dip.

At the beginning, when you first start something, it’s fun. You could be taking up golf or acupuncture or piloting a plane or doing chemistry – doesn’t matter; it’s interesting, and you get plenty of good feedback from the people around you.

Over the next few days and weeks, the rapid learning you experience keeps you going. Whatever your new thing is, it’s easy to stay engaged in it.

And then the Dip happens.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

The Dip is the combination of bureaucracy and busywork you must deal with in order to certified in scuba diving.

The Dip is the difference between the easy “beginner” technique and the more useful “expert” approach in skiing or fashion design.

The Dip is the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accomplishment.

The Dip is the set of artificial screens set up to keep people like you out…

…It’s easy to be a CEO. What’s hard is getting there. There’s a huge Dip along the way. If it was easy, there’d be too many people vying for the job and the CEOs couldn’t get paid as muc, could they? Scarcity, as we have seen, is the secret to value. If there wasn’t a Dip, there’d be no scarcity.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Successful people dodn’t just ride out the Dip. The 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.

I’m in my own Dip right now. It has forced me to question my goals and dreams, to doubt my abilities, to wonder if I have made a mistake. From a confident, aggressive seeker of new knowledge, I have shrunk slightly and moved into a defensive crouch.

I understand now that this is the time to become more aggressive, to confront the challenges, to re-assert my determination to reach my goal.

Thank you, Seth

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