Know When To Let Go

One of the toughest things to figure out is when to let go of something that is important to you. When do you finally give up on a project, an employee, a goal, or an action plan that just isn’t working? Short answer: when all hope for the desired outcome has been exhausted. 

Hope is one of the greatest virtues in life, right up there with faith and love. But hope is not a fairy tale wish; it is bedrock, and you should be able to order your life with it at your side. Hope means investing time and energy toward results that you have solid reason to believe can be achieved. It is not hope to invest time and energy in a goal that has no forces acting upon it to bring it about. That is stagnation. 

It is a waste of time, and time is ultimately what your life and work are about. Getting rid of the painful problem has the added benefit of making room for a positive alternative. In fact, new things that actually have hope for the future cannot appear until you get rid of what was taking up the space that the new thing needs.

---The Coaching and Leadership Journal

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