Just Like Starting Over

mlns='> If you haven’t grown and your work isn’t still special, you do have a choice. [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 10.22.21 Connect With CMI [Measuring Content Marketing Impact: How To Set Objectives That Matter]( In a universe where marketing can’t be proven mathematically, what good is math? It’s immensely valuable if you have this one thing – a shared sense of what success looks like. It’s all in the latest episode of Marketing Makers. [Read more]( By Robert Rose More of this week's best stuff: - [Why You Should Doubt Headline Best Practices Advice (Except This)]( by Ann Gynn - [Use Loyalty Content To Sustain Your Hard-Won Customer Relationships]( by Jodi Harris - [3 Disruptions To Prepare for in the Future of Content and Marketing]( by Robert Rose - [3 Hot Takes: Bad Thought Leadership, Irrelevant Content, and a New Media Network]( by Content Marketing Institute Team Want To Be Featured on the Content Marketing Institute Website? Fill out [this short form]( to share your opinion about any exciting, unique, puzzling, or eyebrow-raising content example, idea, or trend you’ve seen this week (including pieces you’ve created). We’ll credit you as the source (and include your commentary) if we include your submission in an upcoming Friday article.  Just Like Starting Over Do you ever wish you could start over? I had a conversation in an airport a couple of weeks ago. A woman noticed I was working on a marketing presentation, and we struck up a conversation about our respective jobs. She wasn’t happy in hers. “I wish I could just start my job over,” she told me. “I’ve been head of marketing at this tech company for three years. Now that I know what I know, I’d do so many things differently.” Then she sighed and said, “But I can’t.” She seemed sad. Her comments made me think of that saying, “The only way out is through.” It’s usually taken to mean that the only way out of an ordeal is to embrace the pain and get through it. And I kept thinking about that adage days after our talk. The tone of it strikes me as odd. That word “only” bugged me. So, I looked it up. It’s been attributed to many people, including JK Rowling, Carl Jung, William Shakespeare, and (most often) Robert Frost. I looked into the Frost citation and found some context is missing from the original quote. The phrase comes from a beautifully sad poem, A Servant to Servants, in which a woman recounts her ordeals to a visitor camping near her house. As the woman talks about her life, she mentions her husband, Len, who she says “looks on the bright side of everything.” The adage comes from this passage: Len says one steady pull more ought to do it. He says the best way out is always through. And I agree to that, or in so far As that I can see no way out but through – Notice the very subtle difference between what her husband said and what the woman perceives. Len implies to his wife that she has a choice about her situation by saying that the best option is to move through it. But the woman sees no such choice. Through her lens, she can “see no way out but through.” Right now, many people are leaving their jobs and starting over. I find that many people feel the same as the woman I spoke with at the airport. In her view, there is no starting over or moving on without completely upending everything. She thinks the only choice is to move through it because she doesn’t feel she can move on from her situation. There are times in life and careers when it’s clearly time to leave, start over, and move on – often because progress has stopped completely. More often, it’s messier than that. You might wish you’d done (or didn’t do) things differently or that your situation would be better if you could start over. But you might feel you should persevere and move through the situation. The truth is that you can start over anytime you want. For the woman at the airport, starting over could mean simply letting go of all the things she wished she could do differently. Once she does that, she can look at her next workday as a brand-new opportunity. For others, it might mean looking at all that content that no longer serves the purpose we thought it would – and just tap the delete button. It might mean deciding to leave a job you can no longer tolerate. Persevering through something isn’t the only choice. The hard part is convincing ourselves that we do have a choice. It’s not that the only way out is through. Through will only be the best way out when you decide that moving through is also moving on. It’s your story. Tell it well. (And [tell us your thoughts](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com?subject=Feedback) about Robert’s note.) Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute You're getting this exclusive article from Robert Rose as a perk of your newsletter subscription. Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  A Word From One of Our Content VIPs The Content Marketing Report 2022 Find out what separates the top 25% of marketing leaders from the mainstream and how 1600 marketers are currently achieving content success. [Download the Report »]( Sponsored Content  Three Content Challenges for Employer Branding + Next Steps for Success Employer branding comes down to the basics: core values, culture & leadership. During this “War on Talent”, revisit and refine aspects of your brand that impact current and prospective employees with this guide. 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