This episode of Open Signal zeroes in on one of the toughest challenges in creative and entrepreneurial life: knowing when and how to let go.
A mantra of Bob Dunn’s, the idea that letting go isn’t the same as giving up, but rather a healthy and necessary decision we all face when projects or ideas have run their course. Drawing on personal stories and the changing realities of today’s fast-paced, AI-fueled landscape, Bob shares his experience of how to navigate doubt, assess next steps, and understand when moving on is exactly what’s needed for growth.
Listen in as he offers food for thought and a dose of encouragement for anyone grappling with their own moment to let go.
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Takeaways
- It’s Okay to Let Go: Bob emphasizes that letting go of a project or idea isn’t the same as giving up. He highlights the importance of recognizing the difference and listening to your intuition and the facts that might signal it’s time to move on 00:46.
- The Threshold is Personal: Deciding when to let go varies for each individual. Bob points out that there isn’t a universal moment for everyone; rather, it’s about discovering and learning that breaking point through personal experience 02:36.
- Learning from Experience: Sharing his own journey, Bob describes past projects that took significant time to build but ended quickly, and emphasizes that knowing when to pivot or archive something is part of long-term success, especially in freelancing and business 03:09.
- Pivoting versus Letting Go: Bob notes the distinction between letting go and simply pivoting. For example, archiving the Open Makers podcast wasn’t an end, but a way to move forward while preserving valuable content 03:34.
- AI and Rapid Experimentation: Bob briefly touches on how AI and the faster pace of today can make starting and dropping projects easier, sometimes leading to less reflection on why things didn’t work out 04:17.
- The Choice is Yours: Ultimately, Bob reminds listeners that the decision to let go is a personal one, it’s okay to move on—and even trying in the first place is commendable 05:29.
Episode Transcript
Bob Dunn:
Today’s Open Signal. Well, this has been my mantra for years, and I’ve written about it. I’ve spoken about it so many times. It has been my advice to certain individuals over the years, and it’s simply this: it’s okay to let go. No matter what you have through the intentions of creating something, there is a difference between letting go and what others may rush to say, giving up. It’s those gut feelings, those intuitions, and yes, some hard facts that are telling you, well, hey, it was worth trying.
Now, it doesn’t come lightly. It can also be very crushing. There’s so many reasons someone might choose to spin up that next thing. Some of those make it really hard to call an end to it. And I know many others that have experienced that at different levels of just letting it go.
Now, with the pace of today, it’s crazy. I mean, you know, supposedly AI makes it easier, but I’m not necessarily going down that path today, as that has its own challenges, but at the same time, it’s part of this.
The problem is sometimes these things that need letting go can become a burden to you, or you just keep looking at it from every freaking angle, modifying it here and there, which just avoids that moment that tells you, yes, okay, it’s over.
Now, I’m not saying you should give up easily, or in fact, I’m not saying give up. But for each person, there is this threshold that you may hit and you’ll know it’s best to pull back. Sometimes there may be a point that you feel you should have done it sooner. Yeah, why didn’t I do this sooner? I’ve been there as well. Or you might drop it for a few weeks, a month, still questioning, is that the right thing to do? Which brings in that dreadful doubt and kind of just lingers.
There isn’t one solid point where this happens. You just need to learn and discover that breaking point yourself. It might be from experience, but most times I know when I’ve hit that threshold. I’m far from perfect. In fact, that has likely been the reason I’ve survived freelancing and running our business for, oh, a little less than 4 decades. But there are always exceptions when you pull through and that point has passed. And other times, not so much.
I have so many examples myself, I could probably go on and on and on. Way back, I did a membership site that took 9 months to build and 1 month to shut down. A successful marketing business that had run its course for 17 years. An online video tutorial membership site that had me swearing every day because of the outdated materials. The list goes on.
But the fact is, there lies a fine line between letting go and simply pivoting. Like most recently, we archived the podcast Open Makers because, well, it was time. Also, it was no longer reflecting what we wanted to talk about moving forward. But in this case, it’s not the end. The archives live here on the site, and to be honest, they hold a lot of good advice, insights, and just down-to-earth conversations.
So the question spins around to this: with building so much stuff, trying new ideas constantly, or you cannot sit on anything that comes to mind when it suddenly occurs to you in the middle of the night, the question of letting go becomes two-part because AI is a big part of this.
Now, I said I wasn’t gonna go down that rabbit hole, but let’s just touch on that a bit. Does it become easier to let it go? Ramp it up, doesn’t work, ramp it down. Are those moments where the pause of letting something go disappear much more quickly because we are on to the next thing just like that? And finally, does it become an everyday thing? No big deal. Hey, this didn’t work, so on to the next thing.
Think about it. Is that next idea just ready to pop up as you have kind of hidden it behind the wall? And do you really take the time to understand why the other thing didn’t work?
Of course, I know there are plenty of people that have this reasonably wrapped around their brain and have the process down in a productive and positive way, but for others, it could be maddening in the end.
In closing, I’m not here to strike down any idea or say, hey, let it go, don’t let it go. I mean, again, it’s all up to you. Nor am I implying that maybe you need to take a few more minutes and wonder, do I let it go? Advice like that is difficult these days, and I more or less just wanted to feed it to you as food for thought. How it all works out is going to depend on no one but yourself.
In fact, if it’s possible to send positive vibes, no, not vibe-coding vibes, for continued success, you got them. On the other hand, what I’m saying is you do have permission to let it go. You gave it a go, and that’s more than a lot of people have.
