> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.noteofdaring.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Quitting Cul-de-Sacs and Exploring a Depth Year - URL: https://www.noteofdaring.com/quitting-cul-de-sacs-and-exploring/ - Published: 2024-11-25T23:15:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-09T15:30:49.000Z - Description: Navigating the Dip and Digital Decluttering - Author: Rachel Thompson - Tags: Strategy Earlier this week, I had 100+ non-fiction books in my Amazon ‘save for later’ cart. Now, I have 14 books there. A few have moved forward either as library loans (4) or are currently on hold through my Libby app (6). The rest are no longer being saved for later. I quit them. I spent about an hour closing these loops and sorting through the aspirational book list. It was an exercise in honesty with myself. - What topics would I **like** to be interested in, but actually am not? - What books do I like the idea of reading, but won’t ever actually read? - What books are about topics I’ve already know a lot about, and so reading wouldn’t add any discernible value and might even just be another delaying tactic? - What topics were added for a past self? Or an imaginary future self? What do I truly want to read? and what for? ## The Dip One book that made the cut and which I read this weekend was [Seth Godin’s The Dip](https://geni.us/radixdip?ref=noteofdaring.com) \- a short little book about when to quit and when to stick. > “*The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. The long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.* “ Even before reading this book, I’ve been in the process of trying to notice dead ends, cul-de-sacs, and ill-fitting yet familiar projects which float from list to list and might be better to just quit. But quitting is a process of making trade-offs and saying no. And that’s hard. Saying no to rushing into the next thing because I’m feeling uncertainty right now isn’t particularly easy. ## The Shortcut through the Slog Moving through the Dip means making a choice, and quitting a lot of other potential paths. But for me that has meant walking down a few cul-de-sacs and dead ends first, while working through the process of quitting. Or sometimes trying instead to not start a thing. > “*If you’re going to quit, quit before you start. Decide in advance when to quit. Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. Outline your quitting strategy before the discomfort sets in.*” I like the idea of quitting before I start. The challenge is that requires a level of discernment and bravery to (1) know not to start a thing and (2) deal with missing out on that thing. Godin’s book added a way for me to approach that challenge with intentionality by considering the quitting conditions in advance. But I also need to know enough about what I want to articulate what those quitting conditions would be. Deciding in advance when to quit also means that I do have to go down the path - at least enough to gather information and learn the conditions. But then I need to quit, fast. > “*Strategic quitting is a conscious decision you make based on the choices that are available to you. If you realize you’re at a dead end compared to what you could be investing in, quitting is not only a reasonable choice, it’s a smart one.*” It’s a smart choice, but a challenging one too. ## Quitting the Tactic not the Strategy One thought from Godin’s The Dip that struck me was “*A job is just a tactic, a way to get what you really want.“* The example I like to use when teaching the jobs-to-be-done framework is pizza. Pizza can have a lot of different jobs, depending on what you want. Do you want to a cheap, scalable lunch for a lot of people? Order a pile of pizzas. Do you want a fun date night with one person? Go out for a fancy fire-baked pizza. Do you want a quick bite on the run? Grab a slice of pizza. [Looking for a better non-sports metaphor for thinking and talking about sexual experiences with others? Pizza.](https://youtu.be/xF-CX9mAHPo?si=9zqY2IuPVlcn98FT&ref=noteofdaring.com) Pizza is the tactic. It has the job here. If you know what outcome you want, you know which tactic (or pizza) to choose and which to quit. But what do I really want? ## A Depth Year & Playing the Long Game If the first phase of moving through the Dip is quitting all the random side quests, dead ends, and distractions, then I think the next phase is a slow and deep patience. Trying to rush a thing is like trying to sprint a marathon. You just run through all your energy and resources super quickly and make no actual progress in the direction you want to go. Training is a practice in consistency and playing the long game. Building up the skills little by little, mile by mile, until you’re through the Dip. The idea of a [Depth Year](https://www.raptitude.com/2018/12/why-the-depth-year-was-my-best-year/?ref=noteofdaring.com) showed up in my corner of the internet a few months ago and I’ve been considering what that might look like for me. The idea is that you deepen your exploration of the hobbies, activities, practices, and relationships you already have. Consume the stockpiles and tap the vast reserves we already have with deliberate practice and lots of saying no to new things. **What would a depth week/month/quarter/year look like for you? What would you do? How would you approach it?**