Wait, Why Am I Still Doing This?

I was on a call with a friend earlier this week when she shared a story. (I actually jotted down a note while she talked. Hi, friend!)

Years ago, a project in her office became a former president’s pet cause. He obsessed over it and created a situation where something with very low ROI needed constant time and attention. This project became a heavy thing on her plate that she had to deal with each academic year.

One day, she stopped and asked herself: “Wait. Why am I still doing this? The president that cared left years ago!”

It was such a simple question, but it gave her permission to look at the work differently. The project had made sense at one point. It had mattered to someone. But that did not necessarily mean it still deserved the same time, energy and attention now.

I think many of us have work like this tucked into our calendars and to-do lists. Maybe it’s a report we have produced for years. A meeting that still appears every month but the agenda is thin. A publication no one has revisited in a long time. A process that was created for a different leader, a different strategy or a different moment.

None of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, many of them probably started for good reasons. But work can outlive its usefulness.

And because higher education is full of traditions, relationships and long memories, it can feel uncomfortable to question something that has always been done. Still, asking whether the work continues to serve the institution is responsible.

Does this still support our priorities? Is it creating value? Would anyone be meaningfully affected if we changed it, simplified it or stopped doing it altogether?

Most marketing and communications teams are not short on ideas. They are short on time. Every project we continue by default takes attention away from something else: a story we could tell, a student experience we could improve, a strategy we could strengthen or a new idea we could test.

So here's the challenge:

Look at your calendar. Look at your recurring reports and standing projects. Find the one thing that exists only because it has always existed. Then ask:

Wait. Why am I still doing this?