As people with pride, limitations, and resources that aren’t endless, we tend to have a threshold for how far we’re willing to go to get what we want. We all have that point where “enough is enough”. You’ve courted her for a year and she still won’t budge. You’ve applied 6 times, each time with an improvement to your resume and they won’t call back. You’ve done every workout known to man and that last bit of stomach refuses to tuck itself away. So now what, you stop trying?

There are two schools of thought on this. There’s one that says we should all know when to say when. There comes a point you have to be realistic and accept a situation for what it is. Some thing’s just aren’t meant to be. Then there’s the idea that if you want something, you go get it. Do whatever it takes. Expend every single resource. Go till you’re breathless. Throw pride and caution to the wind.

Myself personally, I subscribe to the latter; but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand the former. How can Steve pursue Laura for so long and be turned down by her day in day out? How didn’t his little Urkel pride kick in and say “grow a set man”? I guess that’s just how bad he wanted her. He was willing to try for the rest of his life if he had to. That’s TV. In real life, there comes a point where time catches up with us. Finances catch up with us. So many factors kick in that make it very difficult to continue trying. I think that point is called “The Dip” according to author Seth Godin.

“The Dip” is simply about when it’s time to push harder or when it’s time to quit. According to Godin, “winners do quit and quitters do win.”

I think what I’m trying to say is that only you know when you’ve hit a “dip” (the point where it seems it’s time to quit but really what you need to do is push harder) or when you’ve hit a “cul-de-sac” (the point where no matter what you do, there is no progress to be made). Winners are those who can quickly identify “the dip” from “the cul-de-sac” before it’s too late. Life is full of obstacles and roadblocks. If everything we wanted came so easy, we wouldn’t want them; that’s just the way it works. My inclination is that we don’t choose those things which we should pursue relentlessly; they choose us. It’s a feeling thing. Logic will no longer be applicable. You’ll feel like to give up on this thing would be to lose a piece of yourself. Life would no longer be worth living. At that point, you just gotta keep trying.