The Strategic Pitfalls in The “Dip”

Why Seth Godin’s Quit-or-Commit Approach Misses the Mark

In The Dip, Seth Godin presents a simple yet provocative framework: if you’re not aiming to be the best in the world at what you do, quit. Quit early, quit often, and quit decisively. It’s a message that has resonated widely because, at first glance, it appears bold, liberating, even practical. Godin sells his “quit or commit” approach with his signature style — urgent, persuasive, a touch counter-cultural — appealing to our impulse for efficiency and success. But scratch beneath the surface of Godin’s message, and you find a pattern of strategic misconceptions that, for many, will be more limiting than liberating.

Seth Godin is a brilliant marketer and storyteller, no doubt about it. His work often thrives on dichotomies: us versus them, winners versus quitters, those who persevere through The Dip and those who don’t. It’s a perspective designed to make readers pause, question their choices, and perhaps find inspiration or validation in quitting what isn’t working. And yet, this binary approach sells a story — a story that isn’t nearly as strategic or universally applicable as Godin suggests.

In The Dip, Godin speaks to the ambitious professional, the entrepreneur, the creator, suggesting that the world only values those who push through…