If you can’t honestly say you are excited and willing to put in the time to be No.1, it probably is the wrong career choice. Can everyone be the best at something? The obvious answer is no. But you need to start off with the mindset of being the best. If you start with that mindset you will be successful.

Let us say as the years go by your priorities shift; wishing to spend more time with family and friends rather than focusing on your career. You have put in the years, the 10,000 hours to be a true expert in your field, developed the important skills that employers value. You now have true leverage to make the subtle or not so subtle shift to focus more on family. You have become an “Expert” in your given field. The world and specifically employers place high value on “Experts”. Being a person with high value skills provides you the ability to negotiate parameters of your working life- hours, pay, geographic location, management style, etc…

Your decision to shift focus later in your career to something else (family, friends, social life, etc…) may exclude you from being the “best” in the world. But guess what? It makes you the top 2 or 3% in the world. The top 2 or 3% in any given field add tremendous value to society. People that add value to society are typically happy in both their life and career. They are “passionate”

The Concept Of Quitting

There is a great book by Seth Godin called “The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)”1.  He discusses some of the following concepts:

“Quit- Yup. Quit. Winners quit. Winners quit and quit often. Winners quit early”

“If you are not prepared or have the resources to be No. 1 in the world-quit”

“Winners never quit and quitters never win”- Vince Lombardi.
Interesting quote from Mr. Lombardi. He is right and he is wrong. Once you have chosen and fully embarked on your career goal-you can’t quit. If you are in a career or quest that you do not wish to be No.1-you need to quit.

“Quit the wrong stuff. Stick with the right stuff. Have the guts to do one or the other”

-Society is risk adverse. They always seek out the best person in any given field

-Society values and rewards people that use their important skill to answer really difficult questions

-Achievers are very very good at one thing. Not average at many things

-Most people avoid answering the really difficult and important questions. Because of this they are not sought ought by society. People that answer difficult and important questions are sought out by society.

-People often hover in the middle. They only quit when it becomes really really uncomfortable. Otherwise they just stay in the land of mediocrity

-As CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch made an important decision. If a division could not be expected to be #1 or #2 in the world, he sold the division. It was important for management to focus on being the best in the world

-The dip is the long and tedious stretch between embarking on a mission and achieving your mission. EVERYONE that has accomplished something of real value goes through the “Difficult Dip”

-Going through the Dip is not always fun. Dips are shorter when on a daily basis you systematically work at them

-If something has value, there is always a dip

-If you want to be the best, you need to exhibit the willpower and fortitude to get through the dip

“Butch Cassidy and Sundance kid were escaping from the Pinkerton Detectives. They did not stay in the open range. They headed for the hills. Tougher terrain. Nobody wants to follow them into the dip”

-If you keep quitting your important career goal often enough because of the dip- you will become a constant quitter

-If you are not prepared to ride through the dip, don’t begin the dip.

According to Seth Godin:

7 Reasons You Won’t Be #1 In The World

1) You run out of time (and quit)

2) You run out of money (and quit)

3) You get scared (and quit)

4) You are not serious about it (and quit)

5) You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit)

6) You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard)

7) You pick the wrong thing to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent)

Is it possible that you are not good enough to be the best in the world? This is highly unlikely unless for example you want to be a speed skater or professional violin player. Something that requires BOTH REAL & IMMENSE athletic, cognitive, or artistic attributes that you need to be born with. This represents only 1-2% of the careers in the world. To sum it up, don’t worry about it….

“The Valley of Death- Create a dip so long and so hard that nobody can follow you. Microsoft has done it.”

-If you are prepared to only be average. Quit.

-Track your progress. This helps getting through the dip. The dip is long. Acknowledging the small progressions is a necessity in getting through the dip.

1. Seth Godin, The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick) (New York: Penguin Group, 2007) Nook edition