Blair's Blog

 The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin, 2007, Portfolio (ISBN: 978-1591841661)

A month or so ago when I posted about Seth Godin’s Stop Stealing Dreams manifesto, I mentioned this little book, The Dip. I pulled it off the shelf and tucked it into my carry-on when we went to Ottawa and re-read it on the flight out.  It is a little book, about 7 x 5 inches and less than a hundred pages – easily read in just an hour or two.  It takes longer to think through how you might apply the concepts that to read about them. The concept presented in The Dip is simple: count the cost before you start on an ambitious task and if you are not willing or able to persevere to the end – quit now.

Godin postulates that all worthwhile endeavours have a dip – a low point after an initial amount of reward or success where the going gets tough.  The initial rush of feeling good about a new project hits the doldrums of working through the never-ending details and you ask yourself, “Is this worth it?”  And, if you decide that it isn’t worth it, you quit.  It was the right question, but asked at the wrong time and with the worst possible outcome, quitting after a significant investment (in time, effort, money, reputation…) is totally lost.  Godin illustrates this point with the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – quitting because the posse is making your life difficult as you head deeper into the hills is a stupid choice, it only gets you killed.  The time to choose is before you rob the train – at that time there are two good choices: don’t start if you can’t finish, or summon the strength to see it through to the end. The first is smart, the latter, brave.

Ok, so you aren’t likely thinking about robbing a train – but what about learning a new skill, changing careers or getting behind a cause you believe in?  If the task is worthwhile, it most certainly will have a dip.  In fact, the bigger the potential reward the longer and deeper the dip is likely to be.  Counting the cost before starting is the sign of maturity and the choice to be brave (and see the job through to the end) or to be smart (and find something else to attempt where you can be brave) is crucial to avoid being stupid and quitting in the dip.

I was struck by how this idea ties in with some of the concepts from other books I’ve read – Dan Pink might say that purpose allows bravery, and building mastery underpins perseverance in the dip.  Ken Robinson would probably argue that the passion, interest and opportunity required to be in your element help you to understand what is worth seeing through to the end.  Don Miller could argue that inciting incidents lead you into the dip and character gets you to the other side. No matter what, facing the dip is unavoidable – thus having the foresight to understand the difference between brave, smart and stupid then choosing wisely at the beginning is essential for success.

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Well, we made it home safe and sound – to a tidy house and angelically sleeping children.  We should go away more often!  The weekend away was really nice – we had some lovely sunny spring weather, the tulips were just starting to blossom and we spent time going for lattes and enjoyed being tourists.  We were busy enough to feel like we were getting good value out of our days and relaxed enough to feel like we got a break from the busy life at home.  The kids enjoyed a bit of being spoiled – sounds like they managed to dodge some of their regular chores while we were away.  Next time we will have to leave a copy of the chore schedule for Gram and Gramps!

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Tags: Travel

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What a full weekend. After rain & overcast on Friday, it was clear and sunny Saturday morning. We walked down the street to the Museum of Civilization. We gabbed a maple latte and a mochaccino and got the lay of the land then purchased our tickets and started off with an IMAX movie – “Flying Monsters 3D”. It was about as lame as you are imagining.

From there it was into the museum proper – we skipped the entire first floor and all the first nations mumbo-jumbo and headed for the postal museum section. It was pretty interesting, although dense. All those tiny stamps and envelopes. Kind of a lot to read and absorb. Some interesting exhibits though, especially the history of railway mail sorting and delivery. We also looked through a temporary exhibit on religions that was clearly designed by an agnostic multiculturalist liberal. Kind of content free – all the world’s great religions reduced to trivia.

By early afternoon, we decided to walk across the bridge to Ottawa and had lunch in the Byward Market. After fish and chips at the Highlander, we walked around the shops and parks – alternating a bit because of the chilly wind. We bought some bread and cheese and walked back across the river to our hotel and put our feet up, watched a movie and relaxed.

On Sunday, we had a lazy start then headed over to Ottawa around noon. We spent the afternoon touring the parliament buildings -that was very interesting. Brenda had seen them as a kid but I’d never gone inside. The stone work and scale of the building is quite something. We took one of the guided tours and heard some interesting stories, like the one about the stonemasons sculpting their own faces onto the pillars in the senate anteroom.

In the afternoon we went back to Vintage Wings to see how they run their Warbird U – since there will be a Warbirds U in Calgary in August. I even got to sit in the cockpit of the Swordfish!

Tags: Travel

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Yesterday was a full day of aviation related activities – it was a work day for Brenda. Brenda’s first meeting was at 10:00 at the Ottawa Aviation & Space Museum with one of the conservation technical managers named Mike. I was going to look at the exhibits while they met, but instead got to join in on the tour of the restoration storage areas and workshops.

It was a really cool look behind the scenes. Mike has been working on the restoration of the last Northstar & took us through the aircraft. I got some really neat pictures and will work on posting them later.

In the afternoon it was back to Vintage Wings for Brenda to meet with their management to talk about the joint Vintage Wings – Aero Space Museum plans for the summer. Since I’d spent enough time as a “tag-a-long” in the morning meeting, I asked if I could get a hangar tour while Brenda was in the meeting. So I spent a great couple of hours getting to hear about and look at the amazing warbird collection: P-40, Lysander, Fleet Finch, Tiger Moth, Cornell, Harvard, Spitfire, Corsair, Swordfish, Sabre, Hurricane and a visiting L-29. I got a good look in several of them including the Spitfire and the Hurricane. It was pretty cool.

In the evening we had dinner in the Byward Market area and then back to our hotel after a long day. Today we are going to walk over to the Museum of Civilization & then maybe tour parliament hill.

UPDATE: here are some piccies:

Brenda touring the Northstar

A P-40 in the back storage area of the Air & Space museum.

Air & Space Museum Voodoo 

Can opener from the Northstar galley being restored.

VWoC Spitfire under going maintenance.

VWoC Hurricane

VWoC Corsair

Tags: Travel

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