essentials.
When I resigned from my job, I wanted to jump into five different projects at once. But exhaustion taught me clarity. The breakthrough came not from doing more, but from choosing one less path to give my full energy.
As Greg McKeown wrote in Essentialism:“ You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” A self-coaching question to reflect on at this point is; What must I release in order to amplify what matters most?
Anchor Your Energy
Transitions are exhausting not just for you, but for your team. Leaders often underestimate how much their personal energy shapes culture.
If you’ re anxious, they’ ll feel it. If you’ re grounded, they’ ll mirror it. That’ s why rest is not just a personal strategy( as I wrote in my last article). It’ s a leadership strategy. In transition, your calm becomes your company’ s compass.
A CEO I know schedules“ white space Fridays” during times of major change. No meetings. No decisions. Just reflection, journaling, and reconnecting with the big picture. He says it’ s the only way he can show up steady for his people.
So, are there any practices grounding you when everything else is shifting?
The Humor in Transition
Now, let’ s be honest. Transitions are messy. Sometimes painfully so. But a little humor goes a long way. I like to think of transitions like moving house. You pack boxes, label them carefully, and still end up finding your toothbrush in the box marked“ stationery.”
That’ s transition: frustrating, funny, and yet necessary. If we can laugh at the mess, we can lead through it with more grace.
The Health Cost of Resisting Transition
Research from the American Psychological Association shows that uncertainty and change are among the top triggers of stress. Entrepreneurs and executives who resist transition often experience higher rates of anxiety, burnout, even health breakdowns.
Which means this isn’ t just about business performance. It’ s about your wellbeing. About living long enough to enjoy the empire you’ re building.
One of my favorite films, The Pursuit of Happyness, shows this so vividly. Chris Gardner didn’ t just transition jobs, he transitioned identities, from a struggling salesman to a thriving stockbroker. But it wasn’ t smooth. He endured homelessness, rejection, humiliation.
What carried him wasn’ t perfect strategy. It was resilience; the ability to keep walking when the ground beneath him kept shifting.
Your outer results will only grow as much as your inner resilience allows.
Final Thoughts
Transitions are not detours. They are the road. Every business, every leader, every dream will face them. The question isn’ t if but how you’ ll walk through them.
So, as you enter this final quarter of the year, pause. Ask yourself: What transition am I resisting? What opportunity might it be hiding? What do I need to release to step boldly into what’ s next?
Because the leaders who thrive are not the ones who avoid transition. They’ re the ones who embrace it, learn from it, and let it shape them into something new.
And maybe, just maybe, the very shift you fear most is the doorway to the breakthrough you’ ve been waiting for.
Diana Muhairwe, the CEO Bluhen Solutions Limited, is a Certified Maxwell Coach, Speaker, Trainer and DISC Consultant. You can commune with her via mail at: Bluhensolutions @ gmail. com.