There's a distinction most people miss when everything shifts at once. Change is situational — the new role, the sold business, the team that doubled, the market that turned. Transition is psychological. It's the internal work of letting go of who you were and becoming who you're next.

You can manage a change in a quarter. A transition takes longer — and it can't be skipped. I learned this the hard way leaving a 28-year career as a physical therapist and selling the practice I spent two decades building. The change was clean. The transition was anything but.

William Bridges: the map for the in-between

The clearest map I've found for that in-between comes from William Bridges, whose work on transitions has shaped how I coach. Bridges laid out three phases every real transition moves through:

• Endings. Before anything new begins, something has to end — and endings need to be honored, not rushed. Identity, routines, and old definitions of success get released here.
• The Neutral Zone. The uncomfortable middle. The old way no longer works, the new way doesn't exist yet. It feels like lostness, but it's actually the most creative space in the whole process.
• New Beginnings. Not the calendar flip — the internal shift. The moment the new identity and direction finally take hold and start pulling you forward.

Most owners get stuck because they try to jump straight from ending to beginning, skipping the neutral zone entirely. It doesn't work. The neutral zone is where the next version of you and your business actually gets built.

How the MVP framework carries you through

This is where my MVP framework — Mindset, Vision, Plan — plugs directly into Bridges' model. Each phase of the transition has a tool matched to it:

• Mindset for the Endings. You name what's actually ending — not just the business change, but what it means about you. Letting go gets easier when you can say it out loud.
• Vision for the Neutral Zone. The in-between stops feeling like drifting when you start prototyping where you want to go. A clear picture of 'what's next and why it matters' turns lostness into exploration.
• Plan for the New Beginnings. Beginnings hold when they're supported — by systems, a team, and next steps that don't depend on you carrying everything alone.

"The neutral zone isn't a gap in the process. It is the process."

What this looks like in practice

When I work with owners through a transition, we don't rush the endings or panic in the middle. We treat the neutral zone as a design space — using tools like Working Genius to see what you're built for, and small experiments to test the path before you commit to it. Then we build the plan that makes the beginning real and durable.

Whether the transition is growth, a step back from operations, or a full exit, the pattern holds. Honor the ending. Use the middle. Build the beginning on purpose.

In a transition right now?

If you're standing in the in-between and trying to figure out what forward looks like, you don't have to map it alone. Book a free sample session and we'll find the path — through the ending, across the neutral zone, and into the beginning you actually want.