The Dip

The Dip is a really good book. It's really short. After reading it you want to quit something. Here is the thing: to be really good at something you can't be somewhat good at everything. I knew this already, but now, there is a book about it.

I quit swimming lessons, baseball, soccer, basketball, summer camp jobs, running (well I tried once), acting, the trumpet, speech and drama competition, eventually the social committee, emergency medical services, and those are just some of the things I did long enough to say that I did them. The list of activities, and even relationships, that I never put any significant effort into because they were not going to go anywhere is much much longer.

There will be hard times. That will never escape us. Yet the hard times are far more defining than the triumph and glory on the other side. They also make the triumph and glory more rewarding. My friends, quit. Quit more things than you intended so that you can narrow your focus and get the best possible results out of yourself. The rewards are greater.