When It’s Time to Blow Up the Plan
Letting go of what no longer fits may be the most strategic move you make.
I recently returned from my happy beach town in Mexico, a place that has become a kind of soul-healing medicine for me.
Every time I go, something clears. The pace slows, the noise quiets, my body exhales. I remember who I am underneath schedules, obligations, and everyone else’s urgency.
Because there is literally no urgency there.
And once again, it did not fail me.
While I was there, I had two important Zoom appearances — both endings, and both beginnings.
The first was the final legal step in ending a chapter of my personal life that had, in truth, been over for many years. No more unfinished business or lingering ties. Just freedom.
The second was a Board meeting for an organization I care deeply about and have given enormous energy to over the years. I believe in the mission and respect many of the people. And, if I am honest, part of me wanted to hold on.
But my work there was done. And sometimes, the most loving thing we can do, for ourselves and the organizations we serve, is to step aside and allow the next chapter to begin without us.
So I did. I sent an email resigning and immediately felt a tremendous weight off my shoulders.
Two departures from situations that had become, in different ways, draining, complicated, and no longer healthy for me.
There’s a Palpable Fire in the Air
Did you know this is the Year of the Fire Horse?
It’s a rare combination that only occurs once every sixty years. It brings with it fast, intense change — changes we are already experiencing:
In our politics.
In our organizations.
In our relationships.
In the uncertainty around AI and the future of work.
In the nervous systems of nonprofit leaders trying to keep everything afloat while the ground continues to shift beneath them.
Many people are exhausted and quietly wondering whether the systems they have spent years holding up are still capable of delivering what is needed now.
It is an understandable question because in many instances, the structures that once created safety begin to create stagnation.
The nonprofit whose mission you love but whose model no longer works.
The leadership role you worked so hard to earn, only to realize you no longer recognize yourself inside it.
The relationship. The city. The strategy. The version of success that once fit beautifully, but now feels strangely small.
In moments like these, our first instinct is often to "tweak."
Try harder.
Restructure.
Make a new spreadsheet.
Form another committee.
Have one more difficult conversation.
Often, those responses are wise. But sometimes, it’s time to stop improving what no longer fits and blow up the plan.
Not recklessly, dramatically, or in a blaze of ego or despair — blowing up the plan does not mean abandoning the mission.
It means having the courage to redesign the container, so the mission can actually thrive.
Actionable Ideas for Nonprofit Leaders
Name what is no longer working.
Stop protecting programs or models simply because they have history. Ask what is creating impact now — and what is draining energy without producing meaningful results.
Stop confusing activity with progress.
More meetings, committees, and reports do not necessarily mean the organization is moving forward. Sometimes they are just ways of avoiding a harder conversation.
Revisit the business model.
If the math no longer works, say so. If contributed revenue is unstable, expenses are rising, or staff capacity is stretched too thin, the plan needs revision.
Tell the truth to the board.
Boards cannot lead well with sanitized information. They need clear choices, real numbers, and an honest understanding of what is at stake.
Make one bold decision at a time.
You don’t have to solve everything at once. But you do need to interrupt inertia. Sunset a program. Restructure a role. Change the fundraising strategy. Ask for the major gift. End the partnership that no longer serves the mission.
Blowing up the plan doesn’t always mean starting over. It may simply mean finally telling the truth about what the next plan needs to become.
Build What is Needed Now
The goal is not destruction… it’s alignment.
I have learned to pay attention when I keep asking myself, “Why is this so hard?” Because sometimes the answer is: it doesn’t need to be.
That is the work I am doing in my own life right now and it is the work I am coaching many of my clients to do as well.
Because the world does not need more exhausted people preserving dead plans. It needs awake people willing to build what is needed now.
So before you make another plan, ask the vital question:
Is this bringing me closer to myself, my mission, and the future I am here to build?
If the answer is no, let that shit go and create something better.