In his bestselling book, The Dip, Seth Godin, Internet Marketing Extraordinaire writes about leadership and perseverance.  Seth tells us that great leaders are the ones who can push through the hard times to get to the finish line.  Specifically, The Dip indicates that most of us can achieve a moderate level of success.  Next, things level off again and then we experience a little dip in performance because it gets much harder to get to the next level.  Maybe we get bored, maybe the highs of accomplishment wear off.  It sometimes feels easier to regroup and change direction than to continue pushing boulders uphill.  I like Seth’s concepts.  They fit nicely with the “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” mantra.  The Dip is especially relevant for working women and entrepreneurs because there are so many tests along the way that it’s normal to have days where you want to give up on pursuing what’s most important to you.  You have to be committed and you have to keep reminding yourself that The Dip and other bad days are all part of the learning process to get to the next level.  Easy stuff is boring anyway!

Andy Wibbels also has a nice explanation of The Dip if you’re interested in more.