Setting Priorities and Dropping Commitments

The past two weeks we’ve had “summits” – day long get-togethers where we chart our course for the upcoming year. One of the agenda’s items was a review of our respective schedules.

It was decided that I had to drop two projects I was working on. My rational mind knew that dropping them was probably the right thing to do, but part of me wanted to see them through – if for no other reason then I had started them.

The summit was Thursday, and Friday I made phone calls I had not been looking forward to … calls where I explained I had been re-assigned and I was sorry but I won’t be able to contribute in the same capacity. Guess what happened? Both calls went well, the parties involved respected the decision that had been made and that I addressed things with them quickly.

The moral of the story is that you can’t be afraid to let go of a project here and there if you know it’s the right thing to do. While you may dread the prospect of saying “I’m sorry…but I have to bail”, don’t let it be an impediment to your focus and your true priorities.