Growth Essentials: Let the deadwood burn away

The characteristic of deadwood is that it burns away very quickly. Once within the living healthy tree, the piece of wood formed an indispensable part for the tree. Throughout the cycles of spring, summer, fall and winter, this lively part of wood played its role without exceptions.

But a time comes when the piece of wood no longer serves the function of helping the tree with the flow of nutrients and salts. Instead, it blocks the route between the other functioning parts. This part of the wood, if it is on one of the branches of the tree, only that branch withers away and falls off. But if it happens to be a part of the trunk, the days of the tree are numbered. It’s only a matter of time before there is no living tree.

Now, what does this tree and deadwood saga have to do on Cogent Motivation? Or what does it have to do with us and our lives?

Well, we humans even though made of flesh and bones, contain our versions of deadwood. The earlier we can recognize it, the fewer burns we suffer. Moreover, they are generally mental than physical. Confused? Let’s explore.

You make a plan for your professional career. Based on this plan, you decide the course of formal education/training to attain those skills. But during the course, you realize that this requires extra hours of learning per week. And that demands you to quit the hours of your Netflix and chill for the sake of this skill.

It quickly becomes a matter of choice. The entertainment hour that for so long served (or at least seemed to serve) you with satisfaction or relief for the day now has turned into deadwood. And the effect it has is on the growth of the tree of your plan of the new professional career.

Now, this could be any activity other than the infamous ones like watching television or scrolling through Instagram feeds. It’s only that these examples are easily visible.

It is important to note that the deadwood doesn’t show its effect immediately. And the longer you delay in shading the dead piece of wood to its right place, the closer it grows towards the trunk of your existence. It only messes up big time once you allow it to reach this situation.

Doesn’t this hold also with our social relations? Under the disguise of ignorance, we elevate a person or those few to the core (the trunk) of our existence. And we do it without observing if there is any reciprocation of similar feelings or knowing your place in their lives. We end up watering and nurturing the deadwood only to realize it so late that we collapse under the weight of our ignorance. The leaves of the tree we watered never received it.

This applies to so many scenarios in our lives. We build our perceptions regarding our skills, our personality; without doing a reality check. The late we are in doing so, the deeper is the hole we find ourselves in.

So what’s the antidote?

The very reason we prefer delaying or wilfully ignoring is because of our attachment to the deadwood. And how could we not be? After all, we are talking about a part that was ours. The actual deadwood was also once a functional part of the tree.

The wise thing to realize here is that the deadwood wasn’t an external part that was fit into your life. There’s also a part of you in it and your total responsibility for it. A part of you has to wither away if there has to be a growth in your skillset, character or your Being itself.

What you have in your hands is to identify the dead woods as soon as possible to cause minimal disruption and continue your journey of life.

Take time today to identify your dead woods. Is your place the same as that you think it is in the other person’s life? Are your skills at the level of the industry demands? Which is the activity that served you well before but it is no longer adding value to your growth?

Have you elevated the set of people to positions in your life, where they are clogging the path to the right ones, who in turn could contribute not just to your growth but also complete you as a person?

The answers are the truth. And the truth will set the deadwood on fire. And it will be painful getting burnt but it will set you free. There is limited space onboard. The old parts of you need to burn away to make way for the new.

Know your place, here and now.