We are surrounded by endings our entire life.
The end of a season. The end of the school year. The end of the movie.
And yet we struggle with endings professionally.
Why is it that the end of the project, the end of the job, or the end of the company appear as a struggle?
It often feels sudden or arbitrary. Like the confusion of a hurricane wiping out a town in the mountains. It doesn’t match our understanding of what is supposed to never happen.
Our identity is often why.
Our choice of where we put our energy is strongly connected to our identity.
We choose that profession because it feels right. We choose that company because it feels aligned with our purpose. Even if we cannot articulate what that purpose is.
When we lean into the work, even when it’s not easy, it can still feel natural.
That’s why those endings feel unnatural.
And yet, endings at work are all too common.
Companies that live beyond a single human life endure because they change over time. They are no longer the same as when they started.
Consider Coca-Cola, Target, Harley Davidson, or any company older than 100 years. What they offer and how they offer it are radically different than their origin.
Products which were once in vogue are now at garage sales. Hello, Blackberry.
Skills that were unique become common place. Thirty years ago, mastering PowerPoint could earn you a living.
It is possible to see through another lens.
During the holiday season, we are encouraged to put gifts into the hands of loved ones. We are encouraged to volunteer for the less fortunate. We are encouraged to put aside our own interests in favor of someone else.
Why not internalize that philosophy in times of transition, too?
Redefine endings for yourself.
1. Embed legacy into the ordinary
If you knew that you were on the way out, how would you prepare others for taking on your responsibilities? Empower others to feel the ownership you have now.
Get your identity out of the way so that your ideas can live on.
Even small practices, everyday rituals, and guiding principles can have profound effect.
When you see others exhibit them, you have made a difference.
2. Focus on the nature of a thing, not the form of a thing.
Jason Sowder is a Level 4 Whiskey Sommelier and an instructor at the Whisk(e)y Marketing School. He teaches about the history of Irish whiskey as if he lived that story himself.
His key message is that Ireland limited their future by hanging onto the rules of the past. Rules about how whiskey ought be to made: pot stilled, heavier, oilier and more flavorful.
He argues that the true nature of Irish whiskey cannot be defined by a set of rules. It is a spirit that lives through time. It is quintessentially bound to the culture and the history of the Irish people.
3. Prune to make room for new possibilities
We caretake our landscape with this philosophy. Cutting dead wood enables the tree to put energy in the right place. Gardening teaches us that our responsibility in the natural world is both intervention and letting go.
The same can be true in our professional life.
If we look at ourselves in the broader context, we understand why changes involving loss can also lead to new growth.
All of which to say is that endings can be gifts…
…even if it’s not our choice.
The key is to widen the perspective to see that you are simply a part of a continuum. Part of a system. Part of something new even when your activities have ended.
“End is the word that introduces us to an intimacy with, an anticipation of, and even a readiness for, new beginnings.”
—David Whyte End, 2024
The Visual8 