One of the nice things that Godin gets to in his book is the difference between quitting and failing. In my own words I think of these as the difference between taking smaller tactical decisions on things that aren’t working (quit) versus the act of giving up completely because you have run out of options (fail).
We are too used to seeing a ‘quit’ as a bad thing, we don’t want to be a ‘giver-upperer’. But it’s a very smart thing to do indeed. If this isn’t working why aren’t you trying something else? And if you want to get to the top of your game you need to quit a lot more. I would quite like to play more video games but I have quit those so I have time to write. In fact, to have time to write I have quit a lot of things over the last 15 years: Acting, 99% of all good TV, reading novels, writing blogs (!), having a social life that is related to work, seeing more movies. Without all that quitting I just wouldn’t have had time to have a fulltime job, a baby, a relationship and my writing time. And one day quitting will be a marker of success - I will quit my day job and go freelance.
When you fail, you really know about it, it hurts. Quitting shouldn’t hurt so much. It’s the difference between saying ‘I am no longer going to write’ and ‘This one didn’t work, maybe I should write something more XXXXX’. The first really hurts, the second is called learning from experience.
Quitting is good, quitting is you in control.
So when your Dad or Mum told you not to give up they were giving you terrible advice. What they should have said was: “If your current way of approaching this problem isn’t working then leave it behind and try something else.” That’s strategic quitting.
The point that Godin makes is that we should be quitting all the time and that if we are not quitting then we are probably stuck in the ‘cul-de-sac’ aka The Rut. He points out that there are some very sophisticated versions of The Rut. In the case of a writer you can fool yourself that you are not in The Rut by being hugely productive and pouring out tons of work - but then never showing it to anyone. But really, you know when you are in The Rut. And if you know, then why are you still there? Because you don’t want to be a quitter… but by not being a quitter you are FAILING.
So tomorrow, part three: How do you know whether you are working to get through the dip or just stuck in an eternal rut?!
Some graphics from the book: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/05/images_from_the.html
