Ways to distinguish yourself #96 Let go first!

posted in Distinguish, General on by

A few years ago, one of my mentors talked about this concept. The concept and the example used to explain it are both very clear in my mind even today.

I am assuming all of you have been to the circus at least once and you have seen flying trapeze artists in action. The artist does a number of things using the trapeze in the air. The act I want to describe is the one where the artist swings on the trapeze and at some point jumps out is caught by another trapeze artist by hand in the air. During this act, there is one point where the trapeze artist will let go of the trapeze he was swinging and for a brief moment he is in the air before he is caught by a fellow trapeze artist on the other trapeze. The artist is comfortable and confident of both:
a) to let go of the trapeze first
b) be in the “hung” state for the brief moment when he is not connected either to the trapeze or to a fellow artist

Now, just for fun compare this to several real-life scenarios where you need to let go of the current situation and be “support less” for a period of time before hanging on to something new. Typically people don’t want to let go first as it is considered as a “risky” move. So, while hanging on to what they currently have, they start trying to catch the next thing and then once they have a secured the place there will “let go” of the current. Unfortunately, this won’t work all the time and in their quest for “security” in the future, they end up not giving enough importance to the present and mess up what they currently have.

In your own world, try and see if you are behaving like a trapeze artist who is wanting to make a jump but is unwilling to let go first. While you are not letting go, the advantage is that you won’t be in that “risky” position where you are “support less.” The disadvantage, though, is that you are not going anywhere.

What would it take for you to make that move?