This mantra of change and the creative and renewal process really does it for me. Time’s up – let go. In many ways I am in the letting go business. I help people with people – and this almost invariably means helping people to do something differently in their lives in order to be more effective with others. To let go of one thing and pick up on another. Heck, I wrote a book entitled “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There in Sales”, with the implication being what got you here will get you here, meaning more of the same. Generally, if you want to get there, to create anew, it’s going to take letting go of something in your life to make room for the new. I hadn’t before considered it a process of creation. I now do.
Let’s acknowledge the enabler in the equation, the active ingredient. It’s very simple, very succinct. It’s just a two syllable imperative: time’s up! Letting go is usually so difficult for us because for the most part we don’t have to let go. It’s a choice – a logical, positive choice – but a choice nonetheless. We don’t have to let go and there’s usually lots of competing responses, lots of reasons to stay in our current comfort zone. In essence, we usually really want to hold on for a just a little while longer, not let go. And we hold on, and hold on, and years go by. Sometimes a lifetime will go by without letting go. Then what is the direct route to more effectively recreate ourselves? Time’s up! Time is up for letting go of wanting something – without doing something about it. Time is up for letting go of fear – without facing it. Time is up for letting go of blind certainty – without listening to another perspective. Time’s up – let go. Let go now. I understand that the path to flourishing in our lives is to get rid of ‘clutching’ behaviors … to let go of what got us here. To let go of what is.
So how do we let go? Two mantras; gratitude and separation. Letting go with a grateful heart, not with sadness, but a thankful appreciation for what we are letting go of. Then, consciously creating the needed separation from the now state. That might include separation from people, places, behaviors, or from whatever triggers give us just more of the same. Time’s up – let go.
Let’s do something different – we can’t help but get better:
- Give thanks – it is OK to still appreciate what got us ‘here’. Make a list of what got you to where you are now in your job or at home.
- Make your getaway – pick one habit that might be holding you back … it can be behavioral, nutritional, verbal – or it might even have to do with your wardrobe. Regardless, create separation between you and the triggers that surround that habit. Time’s up, let go now!
-Don Brown
don@donbrown.org
Don Brown dedicates his career to ‘helping people with people’ in leadership, sales and customer service. Bilingual and experienced at the executive and line-level alike, you see the results of his work across dozens of industries, including brewing, automotive, airline, banking and medical equipment.
Speaking, writing, coaching and selling to the best – Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, United Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Jaguar Cars, Hilton Hotels and many, many more – Don takes great pride in long-standing customer relationships (some running well over twenty years).
