The Dip--How to deal with set backs

Recently I read a book called The Dip by Seth Godin. Its a great model for how we should live life. I've seen the principles in this book in tons of aspects of my life. I highly recommend it to anyone (a short ~90 page book). Here's my summary of it and direct applications I've seen.

Main Ideas in the Book
Check out this graph first to get a basic idea:

I used to think that rewards were directly correlated to how much effort I put into a task. Not so. It may seem that way at first, but there are inevitably going to be setbacks in whatever endeavors I embark on. This is the Dip. The Dip is when things get hard and you feel like it is not going to get better. The Dip is the when you stand alone and you have the most opposition. The Dip is when you want to quit.




That is precisely the time you must not quit. Rewards that are worth it will all have a dip. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. Here is when you repeat to yourself all those famous idioms such as: -The nigh is darkest before the dawn -The light at the end of the tunnel -Every cloud has a silver liner...etc.

Scarcity creates value. Anyone that took Econ 101 knows that phrase. Those rewards are scarce because of the dip. If it were easy, those rewards would be ubiquitous and you wouldn't care about them. No one would. Because it is difficult to climb Mt Everest is a major accomplishment. Finishing a marathon results in great rewards because of the dip that comes after the first few times you go out and train for it when you want to quit.

Sometimes you should quit. Some things we work on are fruitless and not worth it or we may not be cut out for the task. It is critical that we quit the right things. Just as critical is that we quit at the right point. Some endeavors don't have those high rewards and the slope is like a straight, horizontal line with minimal rewards or a slight increase with an abrupt drop off. (ie: smoking, drugs, learning to play cricket, stealing the cable of an elevator you're on to sell for money).



Applications in my Life
I just started working in a new state, new job...new everything. At first it was great because I got a signing bonus, people were nice, the facility was nice, I found a nice apartment etc. I noticed a significant dip a week or two in where things got tough and I was working hard with no fruits of my labors. I stuck with it and things got much better; I know what I am doing at work and I'm able to do it decently well. I've noticed this in so many of my projects that I'm working on now as well.

There is a phenomenal difference between 90% effort and 100%. The difference in rewards is 10 fold. Think about this. I will be too.