The cliffs and the cul-de-sacs.

“If It Is Worth Doing, There’s Probably a Dip”

- The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), Seth Godin

The cliffs are the addictions. The activities that give a slight high every time we do them but have massive withdrawal symptoms if we quit. These activities do not lead us anywhere. They distract us from the important work, one iteration at a time. Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, smoking, binge-eating, etc. lie here. They provide micro-doses of reward without actual work.

The cul-de-sacs are the dead-ends, literally. The thing with cul-de-sacs is that they are boring, they don't change, they remain the same, over and over again. They do not get better, they do not get worse. Dead-end jobs, friendships and relationships that have become stagnant, mindless web surfing, habits that don't lead anywhere. They consume a lot of time and energy but don't lead us anywhere better.

“There’s not a lot to say about the Cul-de-Sac except to realize that it exists and to embrace the fact that when you find one, you need to get off it, fast.”
- The Dip, Seth Godin

It's not easy to quit either the cliffs or the cul-de-sacs until we replace them with dips. The dip is about getting to the other side, about crossing the river. The dips are the habits and action steps that lead us towards our goals, towards a better self. They include battling resistance in order to do the hard work.

The more cliffs and cul-de-sacs we get entangled with, the less time, energy and attention we will have in getting through the dip.