Managing Transitions

Today I was talking to Bridget Temple of snowball training. The subject was change management and Mrs. Temple made a very interesting remark:

"Every beginning starts with an ending."

This is the central idea in a great book by William Briggs, "Transition management" The idea is that in general people are resisting change: it usually means a certain loss of comfort and control. Even the most flexible and open minded people have some habits they don't want to change. So to make a change happen you should take the time to say goodbye to the old patterns, before you can adapt the new ones.
It's like flying from trapeze to trapeze in the circus. It's so hard to say goodbye to the good solid trapeze you're holding and fly through nothingness to the other trapeze of which you're not sure you'll be able to grab it. Just letting go. It's wat funerals, marriages, baptisms, housewarmings and farewell parties are for. In snowboarding it's like pointing your board down the hill into the depth and letting go of one edge to turn on to the other one. It's so scary the first time.