Lance Armstrong vs Seth Godin: Failing, Quiting, and Being a Superstar

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Lance Armstrong vs Seth Godin: Failing, Quiting, and Being a Superstar

by Jennie S. Bev on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 4:15 pm

Both Lance Armstrong and Seth Godin are superstars in their fields, who deserve their own sparkling stars on the Walk of Fame of Human Civilization.

Both names oftentimes trigger light bulb moments in others and are associated with redefining human beings’ capacity to be extraordinary. Lance has triumphed over deadly cancer and later proven his physical and mental stoutness as an athlete. Seth is one of the most notable contemporary thinkers and doers in our lifetime. Both have their own philosophy over what constitutes failing and quitting.

Lance Armstrong once said, “Live strong. Failure is not an option.” It may sound clich�, but this professional cyclist truly meant what he said, which explained how he won all those world-class titles. He made achieving looked effortless and remarkably easy to do. It is crystal clear that he does not believe in failing and the only way to be is winning.

Seth Godin, on the other hand, believes in quitting. In fact, he wrote in his latest mind-bending and thought-provoking tiny book entitled The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), “Winners quit all the time.” This adage contradicts Vince Lombardi’s, “Quitters never win and winners never quit.”

Apparently this bold bald guy believes in something quite astonishingly “taboo” among winners. Does it mean he believes in failure? If he does, does it mean he opposes Armstrong’s belief as he opposes Lombardi’s?

Winners do quit, but how, when, and why do they quit? That is the smart question to ask. I, too, believe in quitting. Quitting strategically, however, just like Godin believed. Throughout my lifetime, I have quitted so many times that I have lost count. In the first twenty years, I listened to others when it came to deciding when to quit or not. Apparently, as I had become the so-called “professional quitter,” it became second nature and it heightened my awareness on how, when, and why I would need to do it.

Seth said, “Quit the wrong stuff. Stick with the right stuff. Have the guts to do one or the other.” Put it this way. Quit the things that will not make you a superstar. Quit often and strategically. However, before you do so, be aware of the circumstances that make you come into conclusion to quit. Learn from the lessons and use them in your future steps. Sharpen your intuition and mental alertness to see whether it is good timing to quit. When it is so, do it with courage and a smile.

Stick to your dreams. Create annual and five-year plans. Be consistent and take notes of what, why, and how things happened. After all, quitting is not a synonym of failing, as the latter is deleting your lifelong dreams. Quitting is merely changing tracks in life in order to find other tracks that would bring your visions closer to realization. It is an action, not a state of existence. It is a temporary thing based on the courage to be remarkable.

Superstars are visionaries and they know what it means to be remarkable. They detest mediocrity. They know where they are heading in life, pave their own pathways, and stick to their dreams. Along the way, they will quit so many times, but they will not fail themselves by losing their visions.

Welcome to the club of strategic quitters, the only club belongs to future superstars.

Jennie S. Bev is an author, entrepreneur, and educator based in San Francisco Bay Area. She has over 1,000 articles and 60+ print and electronic books published in America and Asia under her belt and was named an EPPIE Award finalist for excellence in electronic publishing under Non-Fiction How-To category. Among others, she has written articles for, been featured and quoted in Entrepreneur, Canadian Business, San Francisco Chronicle, The Independent, Teen People, Home Business, Audrey, The Jakarta Post, About.com, FabSugar.com, Femina, Fit, and Dong (France and Germany). She is a regular columnist for several publications.

There are 27 comments for this entry. Add yours

Jennie S. Bev for Indonesia » Radio Interview 2nd Part and First Posting on AsiaBlogging.com

[…] listening to my “Daisy Duck” voice? READ Lance Armstrong vs Seth Godin: Failing, Quitting, and Being a Superstar on […]

June 6th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
cowoktulen

thks for sharing this review

regards
cowoktulen

June 8th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Koen

So touching, Jennie; as if written personally for me. I have spent years to believe in improvement and never believe in quitting. Sometimes I know that I have lost myself :). Now, I guess I have to reevaluate my mind.

June 8th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Jennie

@Cowoktulen: The pleasure is all mine. Thanks for your continued support.

@Koen: Trust your gut. Remember Malcolm Gladwell in Blink, sometimes we just know what we need to do within the first few seconds of encounter. And I thank you for reading this modest posting.

June 8th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Jennie S. Bev for Indonesia » Countdown to Mindset Sukses Versi Cetak

[…] The jury is offline most of the time. Thanks for understanding. 3. Intip-intip dong kolom baruku di AsiaBlogging.com, yang diCEO-i oleh Budi Putra, teman saya dan dikelola oleh timnya. Bersama Wimar Witoelar, saya […]

June 8th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Arif Wicaksana

ehm..nice article.Good Jennie :-)

June 9th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
avianto

This is funny. I just took a peek of ‘the dip’ yesterday at Aksara bookstore, Citos. I was tempted to buy it but had to wait until payday =(.

Seth always wrote controversial yet true to the bone issues, all of his marketing book are just mindblowing experience (I read all of them except the last one, small is the new big).

I’ll buy this book and just by taking a peek of it, I recommend this book to anybody who think that quitting is a failure. Be a winner by quitting!

June 11th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Jennie

@Arif: Thank you, I hope it’s useful.

@Avianto: It’s true how one’s writings can change others. From early in the beginning of human civilization, writings continue to make changes in people’s life. If you haven’t downloaded my free e-book Mindset Sukses, do so asap at http://www.jennieforindonesia.com. I hope it’s useful to you.

June 11th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Jennie S. Bev for Indonesia » 10 Pemenang Resensi eBook Mindset Sukses (Juni 2007)

[…] INTIP: Kolom baru saya di Asia Blogging Network ada di sini. Jika berkenan, saya tunggu komentarnya. Penglaris ni, kan artikel pertama. Supporters, saya tunggu […]

June 12th, 2007 at 5:10 am
detra

Pleasure to be here. Now, I can learn how to review a book by reading article in this blog, especially in English. Writing is quite simple,hehe.

June 12th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Jennie

@Detra, thank you for your visit. English is simple and so is writing. Combining the two, you’ll get simple x 2 = super simple. After all, “simple” is a mindset.

June 12th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
arief

Hehehe… guess i never actually looked at it that way. Thanks for sharing Jennie.

June 12th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Jennie

@Arief, we all learn new things everyday. Thanks for reading and allowing this article to sink in your mind.

June 13th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Wibisono Sastrodiwiryo

I will quit when I reach success, but the definition about success is changing. Sometimes people change their definition about success in the middle of process. I do change a lot from an idealistic to more realistic one. Its kind a moving target. Thanks for the positive article, its sharpened my fine-tuning instinc.

June 13th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Jennie

@Wibisono, everybody has their own definition of success and sure we all change from time to time depending on various reasons. In my dictionary, success is a mindset. It’s not a journey, nor a destination. It’s already within you.

In a nutshell, we create our own failures, while our default state is “success.” I’ve written a book about this entitled “Mindset Sukses,” more on how to maintain it in that tiny pocketbook. Keep smiling and believe that you’re successful from the day you were conceived.

June 13th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
bisot

�Quit the wrong stuff. Stick with the right stuff. Have the guts to do one or the other.�

quite difficult to see the differences… coz
when we have a progress, sometimes we’ll forget about our goal, coz progress feel’s good.

Damn, I can’t express it in english :D

biSoT
“Still Curious”

June 14th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Jennie

@Bisot, that’s the challenge. You’ll need to ask yourself really hard. Use your conscience and intuition to find what’s best for you and your future. Wishing you all the best.

June 14th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
seratjati

suprising find you in crowd of virtual word, one who inspiring me to move forward.
salute

June 17th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Jennie

@Seratjati, thank you for your compliment.

June 17th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
rully bc

dear ms.jennie
i’ve read alot about your articles (in pembelajar.com),and they’ve inspired me to be more confident during my internship at hospital in jember, east java.
i really love tour writings!
Thank you so much!

June 18th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Jennie

@Rully, I thank you for your continued support. I wish you the best with your internship in the hospital. Thank you for making a difference in the world, one breath at a time.

June 18th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Arman

Hello Jennie,

I just be back now and I will continue to fully support you whatever you do, wherever you go….Keep spirit and hope all your dream will come true..

Cheersssss

Arman

June 20th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Jennie

@Arman, thank you for your kind support. May all your dreams come true as well.

June 21st, 2007 at 3:35 am
Jennie

@Arman, thank you for your continued support. You too are my inspiration.

June 22nd, 2007 at 1:41 am
Jennie S. Bev » Lance Armstrong vs Seth Godin: Failing, Quiting, and Being a Superstar

[…] [Previously published by AsiaBlogging.com] […]

September 28th, 2007 at 4:57 am
evie deria

Hi Jennie, I just read about you in Kartini magazine, and the article inspired me to reach and bringing me in this web. Basically I am looking for the new inspiration about life track especially to start with my own business. I am employee with 3 kids. I spent 14 hours a day for the commuter and jobs, and let my kids growing naturally and asking them to understand about my activity .. he he ups sorry seems I share my life complaint to you… well your article leave a little bit inspiration to me. but I think to build the strong commitment in our self to change its another story…this is my first impression .. want to know you and your article further.. c u

October 21st, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Adiska

Salam kenal semua. Baru tau ada blog ini. Keep the good work guys…

March 16th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

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