Quit to Win

"An individual who is the best in the world at animation, for example, never has trouble finding a job, though an average animator always struggles," he says. "A small business that does a pretty good job at dry cleaning doesn't find people driving across town with a particularly valuable garment ... and a giant corporation, one that makes it easy for employees to add new initiatives but finds itself unable to cancel projects that are stuck in the dip is on a relentless path to mediocrity."

While encouraging people to be quitters, Godin also does away with other clichéd values we hold so dear.

Resolve to Quit

Beware of quitting when you're in the depths of the dip and the pain seems greatest, warns Godin.

Being a quitter isn't enough -- you have to be a premeditated quitter, advises Godin. "Decide before you start when you're going to quit ... Decide under what circumstances you'll know if you're on a dead end, a path with no win at the end."

The whole point of quitting is to put all of your effort into something else, says Godin. "If your competition is working hard to be well-rounded and balanced but you're obsessed with being the best in the world at just one thing, who's going to win?"

If you try to master a lot of things, says Godin, all of them will either fail or become lukewarm successes. "On the other hand, once you learn how to master something, you get good at mastery, and that skill will help you master the next one."

Being No. 1 in a field isn't an absolute, though. According to Godin, the customer, not the company, defines what the best in the world is.

"The 'world' means the universe from which [the customer is] going to pick," he says. "For some people, the Denny's near the airport in Toronto is the best in the world because they want a boring, safe meal within three minutes of the rent-a-car place. That doesn't mean it's for everyone."