Let Go to Grow

Growth means doing at least one thing new, or doing something old in a different way. Sometimes it means shifting identity and how the day is spent. But it never arrives without change. You can’t keep everything as-is and stack on more to “justify” progress. It demands eliminating or reshaping the old to create room for the new; even if that means dropping something once hard-won or identity-defining. The pattern is to add what brings leverage, drop what no longer compounds.

People often assume that they just need to keep doing whatever they have been doing and they will automatically get so good that people will pay more for their skills. This is true in early careers where you just need to become more efficient at getting the work done. Until it reaches a ceiling and principle of diminishing returns kicks in, at any level.

How to find it? Look for high‑leverage work already being handled by others around you and volunteer to own it. That’s team growth: someone grows by taking on new scope, others backfill dropped work, and new roles open as capacity increases. Team grows -> more opportunity -> people trade hats.

One simple way to get started is to ask leads, “What’s overwhelming right now, and how can that go away?” and then own the solution end‑to‑end. Managing up like this lowers friction, builds trust, and signals growth readiness. Yes, it may feel like shedding an identity, and that discomfort is the price of meaningful change worth doing.

What sacrifices have you made for growth in your own career? Share your experiences below! 👇