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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Necessary Endings summary
Henry Cloud
The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward
13 mins
Brief summary
Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud is a guide to identifying and letting go of relationships, habits, and situations that hold us back from growth. It provides tools for thriving in life and finding new opportunities when faced with necessary endings.
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Necessary Endings
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Key idea 1 of 6
Like it or not, endings are necessary, whether at work, in business, or in our personal lives.
At some time or other, we’ve all hit that wall. We’re facing the end, and there’s nothing to be done.
It’s a universal experience, and it can be galling. But it’s important to remember that endings serve a purpose. They mean we will eventually thrive in professional and personal settings. They are, in fact, necessary.
For instance, there are times when it’s best to draw a line under a business venture or a product line. Perhaps a new technology has rendered those efforts unprofitable. Even design classics like the Walkman cassette player had to be put to bed eventually.
It’s true of fashion trends too. Flared corduroy trousers might have been all the rage in the 1970s, but the current low demand means that there’s no point producing quite so many pairs anymore.
Sometimes, even employees have to be let go. Why keep someone around if they aren’t living up to their promise? That's the time to find a better replacement who will help you achieve your long-standing objectives.
What’s true in business is also true in our personal lives. Endings are inevitable, but they mean we can move on.
An unsupportive relationship or friendship prevents us from blooming, and a dysfunctional or violent relationship or an unhealthy friendship is worse still. But your relationship with yourself is harder to see. Just think about your behavioral patterns or harmful habits. Maybe you’re too reliant on your parents’ support, for instance.
Simply put: endings are good things. They are necessary. Without them, we’d all be unhappily married to our high school sweethearts, stuck in our first jobs, or burdened with unreliable employees. We'd never reach our goals or actualize our dreams.
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What is Necessary Endings about?
Necessary Endings (2010) is concerned with endings and why it’s sometimes best that certain business or personal relationships reach closure. Whether in our work or private lives, endings are necessary if we want to thrive and realize our dreams. But endings are rarely – if ever – easy. This book in blinks provides plenty of good advice on how to engineer them for your benefit.
Best quote from Necessary Endings
The lesson: good cannot begin until bad ends.
—Henry Cloud
Who should read Necessary Endings?
- CEOs
- Business executives
- Anyone who doesn’t like making decisions
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