Taking the Tree Down: Getting Rid of Deadwood
December 27, 2007 by David Zinger
Filed under Business
Do you need to get rid of some deadwood before the start of 2008?
Our Christmas tree in the picture above has dried out and is trying to drop more needles on the floor than there are on the tree. I will wrap it in a blue tarp, drag it out of the house, and leave it at a tree recycling site in a park near our home.
This got me thinking. What other deadwood do I need to drag out of my life before I begin 2008 afresh?
I think we all have projects, activities, and relationships that have become deadwood. It will only make a mess if we leave them in our lives and work. Change begins with endings and as we approach 2008 what things do you need to end to leave space for new and fresh 2008 initiatives and relationships.
Here are a few items to get you thinking:
- Tasks that no longer serve a purpose.
- Projects that should have been abandoned 6 months ago.
- Work inefficiencies
- Time wasters that have simply become unconscious habits
- Negative or energy sucking relationships
- Etc.
How about you, what deadwood are you going to throw out before we begin 2008?
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David Zinger is letting various projects go to focus more strongly on employee engagement in 2008!
Click here to view a short video Season’s greeting from David as he stands ankle deep in the snow in Winnipeg.
David, that’s a terrific visual metaphor. I’ve been sitting around thinking those kinds of thoughts, and realizing a few things:
1. It’s not easy letting go of things that you claimed to yourself–and others–were important.
2. It’s not a binary operation: “keep this” or “discard that”, because:
3. We’re really re-visiting purpose and meaning in our lives. We need to refine those in order to have a funnel that shows us what stays and what goes.
This is when I become a bit envious of those who can cut and paste life without thinking twice about it!
Steve,
I got the tree out. There are needles all over the house and in the back of the van.
Even when we clear the deadwood it still sticks around for quite a while.
Time to start determining what will go into 2008.
David