Introduction: Kipling's If
More 15 ago, I wrote about how Rudyard Kipling's poem “If” teaches us about letting go. Rereading it today, I'm struck by how much more relevant these lessons have become in our hyper-connected, always-on world.
During interviews for my book Tales of People Who Get It, I asked a CEO about his favorite quotation. His answer has stayed with me:
“I like ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you' from the poem ‘If' by Rudyard Kipling because it teaches you not to panic and to stay in control when bad things happen. Don't be impulsive and think that you have to do something. Sit in a room for a while and be quiet and let the world go by while you think about things.”
Then and Now: Kipling's If
When I first wrote this piece, I was exploring Raja yoga meditation and discovering the power of stillness. I wrote about learning nine powers: Tolerance, Truth, Cooperation, Humility, Accommodation, Discrimination, Love, Judgment, and Withdraw. Their meanings in Raja meditation differed from conventional understanding.
Back then, I was beginning to understand what it meant to truly let go.
Today, that understanding has deepened in ways I couldn't have imagined. The world moves faster now. We carry entire universes of information, opinions, and demands in our pockets. The ability to “keep your head” when everyone around us is losing theirs feels not just valuable but essential for survival.
What's Changed (And What Hasn't)
The challenges we face may look different, but the core human struggle remains the same. We still grapple with:
- The pressure to react immediately to every crisis
- The difficulty of trusting ourselves when others doubt us
- The challenge of treating triumph and disaster as “those two impostors”
- The exhaustion of holding on when there's nothing left but will
If anything, these struggles have intensified. Social media amplifies every panic. The 24-hour news cycle makes every moment feel urgent. The expectation of constant availability leaves little room for the quiet reflection the CEO described.
The Practice of Letting Go
What I've learned in the years since: letting go isn't a destination. It's a practice. Some days I embody the calm I wrote about. Other days I'm swept up in the chaos, reacting instead of responding, grasping instead of releasing.
The difference now is I recognize the pattern. I know what stillness feels like in my body. I understand that “sitting in a room for a while” isn't passive—it's one of the most active, courageous things we can do.
Reading “If” Today
When I read Kipling's poem now, different lines resonate:
“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting” in an era of instant gratification, patience has become radical.
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same” social media turns every success into a highlight reel and every failure into a catastrophe. The emotional equilibrium Kipling describes feels almost countercultural.
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run” we're constantly filling minutes, but are we filling them with intention or just noise?
The Poem
Here's Kipling's “If” in full—take a moment to just BE with it:
If by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And – which is more – you'll be a Man my son!
Questions for Reflection
What do you feel right now, having read this poem?
What does it mean to you in this moment of your life?
When was the last time you truly sat still (not scrolling, not planning, not doing) just being?
What helps you find that sense of peace the CEO described? Is it meditation, walking, music, nature, or something else entirely?
And perhaps most importantly: What are you holding onto that it might be time to let go?
A Final Thought
The wisdom in Kipling's poem hasn't aged. If anything, it's grown more precious. In a world that constantly demands our reaction, the ability to pause, breathe, and choose our response with intention isn't just about letting go. It's about holding onto what matters most.
Ourselves.
From Reading to Living
If this poem resonates with you, you're not alone. Many leaders tell me they return to certain books and poems again and again, finding new meaning each time. But here's what I've noticed: there's often a gap between the wisdom we read and the wisdom we live.
That's why I created Applied Knowledge is Power, a workshop that helps you bridge that gap. Whether it's a poem like “If,” a leadership book collecting dust on your shelf, or insights you keep meaning to implement, this workshop gives you a practical system to move from inspiration to action.
You'll learn strategic reading methods that turn any book into a 30 to 90 day action plan, and you'll discover how to create testable principles you can implement immediately. Because applied knowledge truly is power.
If you're ready to stop just consuming wisdom and start living it, I'd love to have you join me.
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