Necessary Endings

Stop the Bad to Start the Good

In business and in life, people must decide whether to keep fixing something that isn’t working or to let it go. Growth demands change, and change means endings. To make room for the next good thing, often you must rid yourself of the last bad thing. Endings are difficult. People make excuses to stay with something familiar because they fear the unknown. Most people don’t know how to manage the endings that life forces on them, and that results in unnecessary pain. Failing to end things correctly dooms people to repeating their mistakes. But when good endings are done well, they bring hope.

“Pruning”

Gardeners prune rosebushes for three reasons: to foster the best buds because the plant can only sustain a certain number of blooms; to eliminate sick branches that won’t recover; and to clear out dead branches to make space for new growth. Pruning optimizes and sustains the viability of the plant. Failing to prune means accepting mediocrity or even failure. Still, people resist cutting things out of their lives...