Letting Go Can Be Hard

Letting go of your outdated self-image can be hard. 



This is why companies and leaders fail to make the changes they need to. This is why many of us fail to make the personal changes we need to.



I had my own Aha about this as I prepared for a recent recycling trip. I, too, have failed to embrace that I am no longer who I was.



Easier Change: I took about 10 cases of my old books (by Bill Jensen) to recycling. Economics made it easy to let go. Both for sale and as giveaways, I'm now able to send digital copies to most people — without costly postage. Buh-bye self-history. Easy peasy.



Harder Change: I also took about 150 copies of Communication Arts (CA) — the premier trade publication for design, illustration, photography and advertising — to recycling.







I am a designer. At least that's how I see myself. I went to school for design. I served as designer, art director and creative director for some of New York City's best agencies and publishers. 



Yet, in reality, I left that career behind almost 20 years ago. But I still kept subscribing to CA. It was my security blanket. As long as I kept up my subscription (print, then digital) and kept all those printed back copies, I was STILL a designer! (At least in my own mind.) That's why it took me decades to let go of those publications. Getting rid of them meant admitting that, while I still dabble in it, design is no longer the most crucial part of my career, and my self-image.



If we want (or need) to move on to new stuff, we need to make room for it. We need to let go of our past self-images in order to make room for our future self.



What self-images do you need to let go of? Isn't it time to do so?