That said, I found this statement slightly troubling:

“Sometimes, it’s the right choice to quit something you enjoy.”

Perhaps if your only focus is on gaining money/notoriety/advancement, then this applies. However, I’m not sure its the best advice to tell people to trade a job/hobby/task they really enjoy for something else in order to gain those benefits. My experience is that something you TRULY ENJOY is a RARE thing indeed (I’m talking that really deep personal satisfaction sort of enjoy, not the superficial “that was fun” type of enjoy). A lot of people may not mind going to work every day, and may have hobbies that are “fun.” However, a job or hobby you TRULY ENJOY is priceless, whether it’s pulling you in six figures, or doesn’t pay you a dime.

Not that I would advocate dumping serious cash into a completely unproductive hobby while neglecting retirement (or worse, going into debt), or staying in an obviously dead-end job while not being able to support your needs, but if you TRULY ENJOY something, the financial rewards it brings are a distant second to the personal satisfaction, and if it is truly making you happy and not negatively affecting you otherwise, it will have a far greater impact on your life than any amount of money.

Example: The Simple Dollar. Trent recently killed a lot of financial income for his site by dropping ads he felt were negatively impacting his readers. This was a poor decision if only looking at the financial aspect. It’s obvious The Simple Dollar is a passion for Trent and something he truly enjoys, but it’s probably not paying him back right now. Perhaps it will down the road, perhaps it won’t, but should he drop it because of that risk? What if Trent only ever breaks even, is it still worth it?

Success is judged by many factors, and money is but one.

Once I had been job hunting and given up. Then I read that it takes an average of 10 – 15 interviews before a person receives an acceptable job offer. I went back and counted how many reviews I had done. Nine. So I started job hunting again and almost immediately got two job offers, one of which was acceptable.

As a result, I generally assume that whenever I can’t decide whether it’s time to give up, then I assume it’s not yet time, because I assume I tend to err in the direction of quitting too soon.

I never thought of processes as being fun at the beginning and later but having a dip in the middle. I think for me, the dip often starts right at the beginning, which is why I’m most likely to try new things because of peer pressure. And which is why I make sure to hang around fun peers.

And I absolutely do not want to devote myself to just the one thing I am best at. I love having way too many hobbies instead. Plus, a lot of times when you get too serious about something it starts to seem less fun, because then it matters more and it hurts more if you mess up. And so then you’re more likely to turn into a jerk.

Still, I think it might be fun to read this, absorb a few more examples, and maybe get a better feeling for when it’s time to quit.

I really believe in the power of persistence, so I understand the whole concept of the dip (especially when learning a new skill like a sport or an instrument), but isn’t part of its power in the idea of not thinking about quitting while you’re trying to learn it?

Luckily the solution was simple, and now I work as a fulltime entrepreneur again.

I don’t think Godin is a bad write — I just thought this book was “fluffy”.

I bought The Dip and have no regrets, I actually *would* go back and re-read it, not as much for the message but for the inspiration, especially in the last (short) chapter.