To Get it Right, Let Go

This is not the column I'd prepared for today. That one was written, proofed, readied, and even had a visual prepared to illustrate a point - and then I abandoned it. It was not easy; it's tough giving up on something you thought about for a number of days, researched and worked on with earnest. Letting go of it feels like a waste. But to be honest, mostly with myself, it needed to be left unpublished…

Life is like that sometimes. I'm sure you’ve prepared a project with a lot of good intention, and found that it just did not deliver. Maybe it was an ad campaign for your store, an incentives program for employees or a promising rough stone that, after polishing, just didn't result in the beautiful stone you envisioned and hoped for. It happens, you just have to let go…

I find that parenting has a lot of letting go too. At first your babies are completely dependent on you and must hold your hand for most everything they do. After a while they don't need your hand, just your watchful caring eye as they develop their independence. Whether you like it or not, that is the situation, so just let go…

Holding on unnecessarily can be destructive. It can be destructive if you put out a sub-par product that leads your client to believe you are not capable of high quality. It can turn back and bite you if you don't present your product truthfully. It will distance you from your kids if you don't allow them the freedom to make their own mistakes, (and learn from them.). It will kill your readership if your story is not well researched or well written …

The funny thing is, we usually know when what we do is not good enough, we just sometimes ignore it. Don't ignore that feeling. Call it conscious, be it a suppressed realization, or just plain honest experience, but we know. That small knot in our stomach that signals us that something isn’t quite right. Don't cheat yourself. Yes, it's annoying to start over, but don't ignore that feeling. Stare straight into it and admit that you need to rethink it, and then start from scratch…

It's always worth the effort. Your client may not look at the redone creation and realize that you put extra work into it, but at least they won't think it's junk. Your reworked marketing plan will be more effective, thanks to this, and your readers may come back to read you next week too…

Being creative is like facing a beautiful woman, a combination of admiration, craving for her attention and a certain degree of fear of being ignored. But if your efforts to win her heart come out awkward and embarrassing, stop, let go, and try again in a different way. Getting the girl is more important than sticking to your first approach…

In the diamond and jewelry industry, there are many good intentions and goals. However, sometimes the approach is wrong and needs to be adjusted or replaced. We see that in the evolution of the Kimberley process and the attempts in developing generic marketing. The approach is just a means, if it does not work, let go of it and start over, learning from the mistakes and trying in a new way. After all, this business is all about getting the girl.

There is no point in blaming someone else if at first we fail. Choosing a goal and a means says that you are the manager. That puts a lot of power in your hands, so use it and use it wisely. Just let go, if not for anyone else, do it for yourself. Then start over and do it even better.

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