That foggy terrain

Between the excitement of the start and the fulfillment of the end there is this huge no man’s land of uncertainty.

To get you through this foggy terrain I think it’s worth discussing Seth Godin’s ‘The Dip’.

‘The Dip’ is the term Seth has coined that describes the lowest point or aspect of a project that has the strongest chance of making you quit.

For example if the project is a New Years resolution to join the gym then the dip usually comes in February or March when the initial novelty has worn off and your discipline and commitment is being tested.

The thing about the Dip is if you can push through it you can gain enormous benefits. For example let’s look at Carla and her studies.

Carla is currently struggling to keep up with the work load of her masters.

She just can’t do another all nighter.

She’s thinking about quitting.

The benefits to Carla getting through this dip and completing her masters are increased employability, easier job hunts and easier salary negotiations.

So Seth would recommend to Carla to lean into the dip.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean stocking up on coffee to enable all nighters. It can mean wholesale changes.

If Carla pinpoints the biggest contributor to her stress to be the all nighters then…

What if instead of trying to do 300 pages in one night, she did 300 pages in 30 days?

What if she created a habit of writing everyday for an hour regardless of the fact that there is no deadline nearby?

Just a small bit of problem solving can alleviate all the stress for Carla and she can breeze her way to graduation and all the benefits a masters brings.

As Seth says in his book ‘The Dip’

“Short term pain has more impact on people than long term benefits do, which is why it’s so important for you to amplify the long term benefits of not quitting. You need to remind yourself of life at the other end of the Dip because it’s easier to overcome the pain of yet another unsuccessful cold call if the reality of a successful sales career is more concrete”