Some things in working life do not need a new development plan. It needs… to be sent away to ‘die’.
We are good at taking on new projects. New goals, new tools, new responsibilities, new tasks, etc. It’s what moving up the career ladder is all about – do more, you can do more – either by doing more, or by thinking about doing more.
We know how to take on, but we are not good at stopping and giving up. In our culture, death is scary. But death is also, in a metaphorical sense, the ending of things so that something new can begin.
In the wave of denial and avoidance of death, we are also not good at letting go. Desks get full. Inside us, too, they get full, because we don’t destroy and finish things so that something new can come.
Some old roles, some old actions, some old ways of thinking, some “because it’s always been that way” just sit there – without life or meaning. And attracts even more things, activities and responsibilities.
And as long as we don’t stop them, the new one can’t find us. Nor can motivation, inspiration and will come when the head or heart is full. Denying this fact in our working lives doesn’t make it non-existent.
Sometimes it’s not a matter of motivation or will.
Sometimes you just need to make space.
