Old Boots
Today I said a fond goodbye to two old friends, may their soles rest in peace. Faithful old work boots, trusty through thick and thin. Together we have gardened and plowed snow and cut firewood and dug ditches and built decks, and more, and more, and more. They’ve kept my feet warm and safe and dry through snow season, mud season, and whatever falls in between.
They actually started out as my dog-walking hikers, but after a few unfortunate events made them too unsightly for public, they became my occasional work boots. However, as they had taken the shape of my feet and were convenient to slip on and off, they became my regulars. Covered in paint and mud and oil spills, they looked like work boots are meant to look.
I loved them so much that when the soles began to detach, I went to considerable lengths to repair them, and got another couple of years out of them. So when today the sole of the left boot began flopping about, my first instinct was to get out the hot glue gun again and go for one last hurrah. But I didn’t.
To everything there is a season, says the Good Book. And with boots, as with software and automobiles and business methods, there comes a time when you have to admit that habitual and comfortable are the enemies of the good. There is a time of reckoning that the investment of time and resources far exceeds any possible return.
How often in our business, our professions, and our lives do we find ourselves knowing in our hearts that a relationship, an engagement, or a way of doing business is long past its “best before date”, yet like old boots, they feel too comfortable to do anything about. And how often, like Norm with his hot glue gun, do we waste too much time and effort trying to get just one more go around?
There comes a time to move on, to admit that the old boots have a beautiful history, but no future.
Got some old boots we need to talk about?