Got Cruft?

by Bruce Kasanoff

Cruft is the term programmers use to describe outdated, unnecessary or broken code that exists within software. Maybe it used to serve a purpose, but after 10, 20 or 100 updates, it is just slowing down the program...or worse.

For more than two years, I have partnered with executive coach Heath Dieckert. He introduced me to the term and together we have been working on a book, although I'm not 100% that book will ever be finished, because we enjoy talking so much that our conversations wander, twist and turn.

Here's a short excerpt from the beginning of that "book".

**

Quite soon after your birth, you started to transform experiences into beliefs:

I cry and someone feeds me…

I cry and someone picks me up…

This tastes good…

That tastes disgusting…

I get to decide what I put in my mouth…

When I cry, I get more food. (Or less, depending on the people who control my fate.)

These people are called parents.

Their fears become my fears.

Their silly ideas become my silly ideas.

I fall down and it hurts. Maybe that makes me mad and I try harder. Maybe it makes me quit. (Lesson: hard = stop trying)

Someone my age hits me. Maybe I cry. Maybe I hit them even harder. (Lesson: violence works)

The experiences pile up. They turn into more and more beliefs.

These beliefs create stress and fears. Some of the beliefs are negative, and they feed a voice in your head that is capable of attacking you more viciously than you have ever been attacked by anyone else.

Over time, this debris seems to become an integral part of your being. You can’t even recognize that some of the code inside you no longer deserves to be there.

**

In a similar manner, when you were young,  you probably had no idea that many of the people around you—parents, friends, neighbors, siblings, bullies, teachers, rivals, lovers—were wrestling with their own issues. They were hampered by their own cruft, and perhaps their traumas, challenges, and obstacles were even greater than yours.

Some of their delusions and blind spots became yours.

The debris piled higher and higher and higher until it started to block out the sun.

Not the sun 93 million miles from Earth.

Your sun. Your light. Your full potential. Your odds of leading your best possible life—the one you were born to lead—grew dimmer.

But you didn’t know it, because everyone you know lives with more cruft than they need.

**

Cruft is a difficult concept to grasp, but understanding it pays wonderful dividends in your life. You don't have to keep your cruft. You can leave it behind and lead a far more expansive life.

I am an executive coach who doesn't take much of your time or money, but seeks to make a lasting difference in your life. Set up an introductory call with me.