Are You in a Dip?

Is your business or life in a dip?

If you're not sure, you should read Seth Godin's new book, The Dip: The Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

I bought this book because my business, like my life, reached a dip. I felt frustrated and not sure what direction to take my business until I read the book. What fascinated me about the book was that he talked about quitting. Yes, that's right, quitting.

He said the difference between people who succeed and those who don't has to do with knowing when to quit.

We're taught in school and life to 'keep on going,' and that 'winners never quit and quitters never win.' Then, when we get out in life and continue to struggle with something, we feel defeated and want to quit but we're afraid.

How do you know when to quit? That's as individual as your genes, but one thing is true: if you have no passion, you've reached the glass ceiling, you're not passionate or if you're not growing and learning and you're only mediocre, it may be time to throw in the towel and quit with pride.

Yes, quit and move on to something you can excel at - something that makes you better than mediocre. The world rewards the top people at what they do and they don't just get rewarded a little, they get rewarded a lot.

For example, Vanilla ice cream is the most popular selling ice cream in the world and most people know that chocolate is second. What they don't know is that because Vanilla is the best, it demands not just a bit more sales, but tons more sales. Chocolate may be second but it's in the distant second and not too far in front of Butter Pecan, Neopolitan, etc.

So...if you're trudging away in life or business and not feeling the best at something, it may be time to quit and move on to something else. If pride is in your way, give it a quick, swift boot. After all, most highly successful people quit many things.

Many A-List actors were enrolled in college and quit to pursue their love - acting. Premed students quit their profession to pursue something else because they didn't really love the idea of being a doctor. (Thank goodness they did - who wants a surgeon who hates their job, operating on them?)

So...instead of feeling like a failure for quitting, think about the time and resources you save, the frustration and lack of interest, and direct your energy to things you're good at - things you excell at and things the world needs.

Happy quitting....

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/

Lisa