13211: Saying Goodbye To A Project You Love
Hey there, hero!
Far more often than not, the projects I create and undertake tend to “stick.” Rarely do I shut something down before it has run its course.
And most go on for a long, long time.
In this episode, I take a look at the decision making and the grief (yep!) around the choice to end a project I love (which I recently did).
Part of that includes how to do things gracefully and generously, both to myself and to anyone involved that might be affected by the de-commissioning.
And part of that decision is dealing with the notion of failure.
And part of that decision is how to take the time that’s freed up and re-deploy it.
How easy is it for you to say goodbye to something you’ve put work into? What do you tell yourself in terms of the sunk cost of time, effort and maybe money? Let me know in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
as I’m recording this I have just
finished the final Zoom meeting of an
organization that I just shut
down and uh doing that was
bittersweet but it was for a reason and
sometimes the reasons we do things are
really instructive I’d like to talk to
you about that in this episode of the vo
Heroes podcast
so before we get into this if you want
to hit the like button on faith that
this is going to be fun and and and
interesting uh you can join the uh
subscribe to the channel you can get
notified when new episodes come out if
you hit the notification Bell love to
have share this uh with other people but
what I want to talk to you about was uh
kind of a version of no when to hold
them and know when to fold them but we
sometimes look at the creation of
products and services what we do for a
living what we do with our investigatory
and research time to see hey do I want
to do this do I want to do that we try
things and not everything that we try is
this huge blowup
awesome time
immemorial success that is a Cornerstone
of our Wikipedia page for life right
sometimes it doesn’t work
out and a couple years ago I put
together a group of uh people who train
actors and voice talent and writers in
various
areas uh as a a group to share Concepts
and strategies and tactics and ideas and
new technologies and ways of marketing
and ways of serving our clients and
serving our customers and serving our
teams and um I ran it for a couple of
years we met monthly we also had a
mailing
list and it wasn’t a failure in fact it
was a great success in terms of what
everybody seemed to get out of it um but
it wasn’t one of those things that I saw
continuing on Beyond when I just you
know let everybody know today that I was
shutting it down and there’s a part of
us that sometimes lays blame I
failed uh
I I did something wrong I did something
not good enough and the truth of the
matter is is it was great it was a great
experience I learned a lot everybody who
was in it we just got finished talking
about hey was this okay for you did you
feel like you got the worth out of it
and they was like yeah so what I had to
do was look at my priorities and I am at
a point where I wanted to kind of prune
the the hedges in terms of all the
different things that I had
responsibilities for and this was one of
those things that I judged to be
something that I wanted to take out of
commission and so I had to sit down with
myself this morning before the meeting
that I just had to tell everybody and uh
just say look this isn’t this isn’t a
failure you got some great results for
yourself for others the people that were
involved this wasn’t a bad thing this
was a great thing people were were
getting Great Value from it it just
wasn’t something I wanted to continue
with and I’m leaving the infrastructure
up people can still contact each other
and they’re all my friends anyway right
this was just sort of organizing our
working together and so I came to the
conclusion like with many things that we
attempt not everything’s going to be a
grand slam home
run uh and there’s value all along the
Spectrum it’s not a loss or a win it can
be a very positive experience that just
wasn’t huge and I want you to think
about that especially as you look at
your performance career whether it’s
acting or voiceover or writing the three
constituencies that I’m paying attention
to now even more because what I’m going
to take is the time that I was spending
on this project and I’m going to apply
it to the products and services that
I’ve created that that serve me and
serve my following serve my
constituencies and make them even better
I’ll have more time to do that and so
it’s a plus all the way around even
though we say goodbye to this particular
project and I just want you to give
yourself some Grace when you try
something and you decide you know what
it’s just not worth it for me to
continue and it’s okay it’s really okay
you don’t have to you know chalk it up
in the loss column you don’t have to say
oh my gosh I’m a failure think about the
things that you learn even from the
things that aren’t huge hits does that
make sense I hope so hit the like button
again if you want that’s up to you I’m
David H Lawrence the 17th I thank you so
much for watching and for listening and
I will see you in the next episode of
the vo Heroes podcast
(from YouTube)
I decided to take my paranormal podcast off my plate to help reduce the feeling of overwhelm that I sometimes get from being a dad with very young children, a D&D podcaster, an on-camera and voice actor, etc. I don’t see my paranormal podcast as a failure. I think it’s great! I’m proud of it. I hope it gets new listeners for many years to come. I learned that two podcasts is not realistic at this time in my life. It was overall a very positive experience.
I know the group of which you speak 😊
Letting go of my podcast Inside Acting was a choice I agonized over for months. After 314 episodes, we had to recognize that we were different people than when we’d started it… and that instead of feeling remorseful, defeated, or conflicted, we could choose to feel proud of what we’d built, the folks we’d helped, and the relationships we’d made.
I still miss it, and sometimes wonder what could have been if we’d chosen instead to adapt or evolve the vision, and continue. But the skills, wisdom, and friends that came out of those years are priceless, and have been instrumental in every other project since.
Great year-end message, David.
After 18 years, I’m about to leave the Board of a theater company where I’ve been both Board Chair and Treasurer. The involvement has been synergistically meaningful and I can feel good about the impact that my presence has had over the years. However, as you’ve described, I need to be able to devote my time to other things about which I care deeply, and I need to see the organization evolve fostering the commitment of a new generation of volunteer leadership. I will continue to be involved, in other ways (I am a Member of the company).
Tough to let go, but, as you’ve said, sometimes decisions like this are necessary.
Hi, David. Thanks for sharing.
Over the past decade I have participated in many of your projects, Dan’s projects, and your co-projects—all of which I consider successful. Some have left; some I have left; some I remain with and some are in my hip pocket to be called upon from time to time. All, however remain with me. All have changed me.
While knowing nothing about this project, I know enough about you to know that it was successful, valued and impactful upon those involved. That it ended is no surprise and should as you say be no disappointment. I often wonder that you manage to do as much as you do, but I fully understand how far helping others can take us.
Vincit Qui Patitur