No one quits the Boston Marathon in the 25th mile.
Runners are most likely to flunk on the 20th. That’s “The Dip” – when enthusiasm tapers off, the same point that separates outstanding from mediocre.
We all face The Dip and how we deal with it determines the quality of our lives.
No prizes for 2nd
In this post-Google world, the nature of the free market confuses the customer. The customer chooses the best option for his “micro-market”. As Seth Godin asks in “The Dip”, if you had cancer, would you opt for a mediocre oncologist?
The same dilemma faces our life choices, whether as consumers or in business. To master a skill, whether a golf swing or being a market leader requires the persistence of mind to endure the dip. The energy that gets us going, the novelty, excitement and positive feedback fades as we no longer bear the moniker of “novice” and move towards mastery.
99% quit at the wrong time
Faced with The Dip, 99% of people give up. It’s too painful, too difficult, they don’t have enough resources and motivation. But count your blessings as The Dip separates “us” from the “rest”. If only 80% of people gave up, the rewards for being a market leader would be 20 times less.
Most people will lose faith as they still hold on to the strategies that got them into the game in the first place as the tools that will get them to the next stage. And, there are cases where our recklessness means that we fail to quit when we really should be diverting our energies elsewhere, such as the countless billions invested into the US Space Shuttle.
My Dip
I’ll look back on 2007 as my Dip. From making more money in 2006 than all my preceding years combined to losing it all the next year, I guess most people would feel the stuffing knocked out of them. Me too.
When the energy that got you there runs out, the only energy that will get you through the Dip is faith. I don’t mean “faith” in the religious sense but faith in the long term and in what you are doing as the right thing.
Don’t look at the wall
Often it’s difficult to have faith when the challenges of daily life obscure our long term vision, when mortgages need to be paid and cash is running out. Yet, thinking about the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend reminds me of an oft-told analogy that got me through this.
When an F1 drivers spins off the track out of control 99% of people’s attentions are drawn to the impending wall, and that’s exactly where their subconscious mind takes them. What they train the best to do, however, is focus on the track.
Quitting the baggage
The challenge of faith in doing the right thing is deep rooted in self-confidence. You lose confidence and start asking yourself “how do I get out?”.
You doubt things. Am I doing the right thing? If I hadn’t made that decision back in March, would things have been different? Probably yes, but then getting here through that chain of events gave me perspective.
When you jettison the mental baggage that holds you back, you can see things more clearly. Suddenly, it’s not about the quality of my material possessions but the quality of the relationships. It’s not about the money but the passion. In years to come I won’t look back and think “Thank God for that Merc”… I’ll remind myself how I felt every Monday grateful for the opportunity to come to work when I could only see miserable faces of commuters tucked into the Metro newspaper in the morning reading about disease, terrorism and gun crime.
Cul-de-sacs
Building and selling a multi-million dollar company is no longer a driving force anymore. It was a cul-de-sac that would lead nowhere, someone else’s agenda that I was compelled to live out. That was my Space Shuttle, an idea that I successfully quit whilst in The Dip and for that am eternally grateful.
When you lose it all…
I lost everything but I still have my business(es), my ability to decide and my passion to something remarkable. I would be lying however if I said I was never tempted to quit at the wrong point. Your energy dries up with your confidence, you fail to believe you can make it through The Dip. I’m not one to fool myself through nonsense self-affirmations in the morning mirror “I’m happy, I’m happy, I’m happy”, when deep down inside you know something needs to change.
I still have my property portfolio even though temptation to quit was a constant factor in my year. Tenants phoning up on Friday night complaining about leaking dishwashers, bathroom tiling or leasehold issues.
Selling a property to free up the cash when elsewhere it was drying up was a tempting proposal. But I stuck it out. I sold all my shares and raided my ISAs before I touched the properties. Why? Because despite the short term pain, it was the 20th mile, the right thing to do in the long term.
Small goals
Rebuilding confidence is often a mechanical exercise as much as a mental one. It’s about setting yourself achievable targets that will stretch you, lead you on to the next stage, get you out of the rut. Anybody who has seen or read Joe Simpson’s “Touching the Void” will know what I mean.
You think you have it bad?
Joe’s story is both remarkable and inspirational. His Dip was on a scale that most of us will and should never face. He lay sprawled out on the rocks, the place that was to be his uncomfortable and desolate open grave faced with a journey down the mountain that would be impossible for even the most able bodied of climbers.
Step by step
After days lost on the mountain, left for dead by his climbing buddy suffering from mutliple breakages, starvation, frostbite and dehydration most people would have given up the ghost and lay down to die. But Joe thought, what can I do now? And he focused on a rock not more than 10 metres way and set himself the goal of reaching that rock. Upon reaching that goal, he set another, and another and another. The fact he returned alive in his condition is seen by most as a miracle. 99% of people would have given up.
Why is The Dip a positive force?
As Godin says “The Dip is the reason why you are here”. It is the challenge that seperates mediocrity from a life of significance, whether that be living in a foreign country, becoming a billionaire, being the mother of a special needs child or overcoming daily prejudice. In all these scenarios, the vast majority of people , at some time, dropped out of the race in the 20th mile.
