"By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning." ~Lao Tzu~
This past weekend I was in a little shop where I saw this expression on a magnet: “Let Go or Be Dragged.” It really hit home for me as I am in transition (or stated most optimistically, “between opportunities.”) I was intrigued by the idea because I think I often struggle to let go. Typically, I am self-critical about this tendency, viewing it as a character flaw. Given my recent experiences while serving for a year as an interim head in a school enveloped by flux and unbidden change – where I absorbed a lot of peoples’ pain, served as the focal point for change, and weathered the ups and downs of a year spent leading transition, I was attracted to the idea of letting go and not getting dragged across rough terrain. Furthermore, I am certain that one’s difficulty in relinquishing a given situation increases incrementally with one’s investment in that situation (in my case, my personal and professional investment in this particular school, its progress and its community). So now, on the other side of a challenging and, I might say, tumultuous year, to truly let go, I think I am compelled to celebrate my strength and commitment to my work this past year and to honor myself for giving so thoroughly to this important endeavor.
This past weekend I was in a little shop where I saw this expression on a magnet: “Let Go or Be Dragged.” It really hit home for me as I am in transition (or stated most optimistically, “between opportunities.”) I was intrigued by the idea because I think I often struggle to let go. Typically, I am self-critical about this tendency, viewing it as a character flaw. Given my recent experiences while serving for a year as an interim head in a school enveloped by flux and unbidden change – where I absorbed a lot of peoples’ pain, served as the focal point for change, and weathered the ups and downs of a year spent leading transition, I was attracted to the idea of letting go and not getting dragged across rough terrain. Furthermore, I am certain that one’s difficulty in relinquishing a given situation increases incrementally with one’s investment in that situation (in my case, my personal and professional investment in this particular school, its progress and its community). So now, on the other side of a challenging and, I might say, tumultuous year, to truly let go, I think I am compelled to celebrate my strength and commitment to my work this past year and to honor myself for giving so thoroughly to this important endeavor.
We live in a world where things come easily and quickly. Many of us feel entitled to happiness as we value and seek it for ourselves and our children. We are enamored of the idea of success, but we don’t love the long process of becoming successful. Determined and focused persistence or prolonged hard work is less attractive. But persistence is a central facet of good growth. Ideally, it is the excitement of reaching our aims by sticking with them that keeps us engaged and motivated. Endless ideas about new goals we can achieve, if not matched by progress toward them, ultimately offer hollow feelings. In other words, feeling invested and excited about what (and how) we achieve is more important than the first blush of new aims imagined. So many boards leading schools succumb in the face of this critical dichotomy. True growth stems not from generating new ideas but from the progress toward and achievement of well-conceived and enduring ones.
If we explicitly embrace and affirm the value of persistence we can be realistic and pragmatic in our thinking and expect obstacles and prepare for them. In this way we connect persistent effort with performance. If we identify problems, understand and define them, and then come up with a strategy for a solution, we can better meet life’s challenges. The focus is on effort, feedback, and trying again; experimenting with, reflecting on, and learning from this process will lead to achievement. As we practice the process of defining a problem and all of its parts, generating and sifting through ideas, and determining a plan of action, we build confidence and resilience. Perhaps in this way, transition becomes more about bequeathing than relinquishing.
In the face of all of this, there is little room for lacking energy, being uncooperative, or becoming lackadaisical in attitude or spirit. With consistency and determination – long after the endeavor is exciting and fun, energizing and inspiring – you perform. Anyone who has led a school in transition, righting it and handing it intact and ready for forward momentum to its next leader, knows the value of this kind of resilience. You tap into your own determination. How much will you try despite being dispirited, frustrated, scared, and frequently countered on seemingly every level? Belief in the fundamental value of effort and determination despite difficulty is a successful strategy for life, and one benefits greatly through the persistence and determination to work hard and to earn, with blood, sweat, and tears, one’s aims.
"You cannot let go of anything if you cannot notice that you are holding it. Admit your 'weaknesses' and watch them morph into your greatest strengths." Neale Walsch
