Seth Godin: The Dip (2007) 📙

Meine Notizen

Der Beste der Welt werden

• “Anyone who is going to hire you, buy from you, recommend you, vote for you, or do what you want them to do is going to wonder if you’re the best choice. Best as in: best for them, right now, based on what they believe and what they know. And in the world as in: their world, the world they have access to. So if I’m looking for a freelance copy editor, I want the best copy editor in English, who’s available, who can find a way to work with me at a price I can afford. That’s my best in the world.” (S. 10f)

• So versteht sich auch “die beste Gründungsberatung der Welt” — die beste für meine Nächsten!

Is this the best you can do?

• “People settle. They settle for less than they are capable of. Organizations settle too. For good enough instead of best in the world.” (S. 13)

The magic of thinking quit

• “Strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations. Reactive quitting and serial quitting are the bane of those that strive (and fail) to get what they want.” (S. 16)

• “Here’s an assignment for you: Write it down. Write down under what circumstances you’re willing to quit. And when. And then stick with it.” (S. 71)

• “[…] you should outline your quitting strategy before the discomfort sets in.” (S. 72)

The Dip

• “The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery.” (S. 17)

• “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.” (S. 19)

• “And the stupid thing to do is to start, give it your best shot, waste a lot of time and money, and quit right in the middle of the Dip.” (S. 24)

The Cul-de-Sac

• “It’s a situation where you work and you work and nothing much changes. It doesn’t get a lot better, it doesn’t get a lot worse. It just is.” (S. 19)

• “There’s not a lot to say about the Cul-de-Sac except to realize that it exists and to embrace the fact that when you find one, you need to get off it, fast. […] The opportunity cost of investing your life in something that’s not going to get better is just too high.” (S. 20)

• “Stick with the Dips that are likely to pan out, and quit the Cul-de-Sacs to focus your resources. That’s it.” (S. 20)

Your marketplace is competitive

• “Your marketplace is competitive, filled with people overcoming challenges every day. It’s the incredibly difficult challenges (the Dips) that give you the opportunity to pull ahead. In a competitive world, adversity is your ally. The harder it gets, the better chance you have of insulating yourself from the competition. If that adversity also causes you to quit, though, it’s all for nothing.” (S. 25f)

• “If you enter a market that’s too big or too loud for the amount of resources you have available, your message is going to get lost. Your marketing disappears, your message fails to get spread.” (S. 73)

Average is for losers

• “Average feels safe, but it’s not. It’s invisible.” (S. 44)

• “You deserve better than average.” (S. 44)

• “In a free market, we reward the exceptional.” (S. 14) In der Schule hingegen wird belohnt, wer angepasst und “brav” ist.

What business are you in?

• “Yes, you should (and must) quit a product or feature or a design — you need to do it regularly if you’re going to grow and have the resources to invest in the right businesses. But no, you mustn’t quit a market or a strategy or a niche.” (S. 50)

• Das ist eine wichtige Unterscheidung!

• “Don’t fall in love with a tactic and defend it forever. Instead, decide once and for all whether you are in a market or not. And if you are, get through the Dip. The market wants to see you persist.” (S. 51)

• “Short-term pain has more impact on most people than long-term benefits do, which is why it’s so important for you to amplify the long-term benefits of not quitting.” (S. 53)

• Deswegen sind auch Vision, Unternehmer-Traum, Mission etc. so wichtig. Und dass man seinen Purpose klar hat.

What sort of measurable progress am I making?

• “If, on the other hand, your business doesn’t generate word of mouth, doesn’t see new customers, and isn’t moving forward, why exactly are you sticking with it?” (S. 69f)

• “But your commitment to the market needs to be unquestioned — it’s much cheaper and easier to build your foundation on one market than to flirt from one to another until you find a quick success.” (S. 70)

• “You don’t define yourself by the tactics you use. Instead, your organization succeeds or fails in its efforts to reach its big goals.” (S. 70)