My review: ⭐⭐
Unfortunately I seem to be in the minority of readers that didn’t find too much revelatory information in this short read.
Seth Godin sets out to take on a very simple and important question: when should you persevere with an activity despite difficulties and when is it better to throw in the towel. This is a question I have grappled with throughout my career. But unfortunately I finished this short text bereft of the promised wisdom.
Godin frames the whole book around the notion of a ‘Dip’ — which he describes as something like prolonged adversity — and recommends only undertaking difficult activities whose upside is sufficiently large enough to justify the sacrifice endured to get there.
That’s a nice axiom. However, for me, there was simply too much gray matter that was never really tackled here and too much repetition. Questions like: how much upside is enough? And, more presciently, how can you tell when you’re at the point of inflexion when it’s better to give up than soldier on? Personally, I doubt the answer to such questions can be whittled down to a formula. Which is why I think it would have been better had Godin focused on some other aspect of perseverance than trying to describe an elusive answer that probably depends on individuals’ complex set of circumstances.
On the plus side, the book has given me a somewhat useful framework for assessing whether future pivots are worth taking.
But it didn’t provide the type of clarity on the ‘when’ question that I was seeking when I ordered it. Grit: The Power of Perseverance is next on my reading list on the subject. I hope to derive more insight from it.
