I sometimes (often) wonder what goes through people's heads. I get that change is hard at times and this is especially true when we don't choose it for ourselves, but what has happened to facing the challenge - why is there more resistance than resilience?
Perhaps it is resilience.
A commitment to not change, no matter what the environment requires. I fight to stay the same, despite "the same" not getting good results. I will to maintain a failing status quo than explore the possibilities.
Better the devil you know.
No one likes change, even if they like the results they get from it. That changeover period is where they feel the most vulnerable, where they are uncertain whether the changes are going to lead to better or worse. It is only in hindsight that they look back and can evaluate whether they are glad they did, or upset the didn't. But I think that since the only inevitability is that things will change, it isn't a question of whether staying the same is an option, it is matter of what change is going to be the most rewarding.
For a simple reflection exercise consider, if you could click your fingers and change one of your daily habits, which one would off you the largest positive gain on your life?
Eating better? Sleeping more? Watching more TV? Watching less? Reading more news? Exercising more or less? What else? Which offers the best return on your investment? If you had 10 dollars a day to invest over the last three years, what would have given you the greatest return? A much harder question to answer however is,
what are you going to invest in tomorrow?
It isn't so easy.
Yet, despite us remembering the big events of our lives, the things that have the largest impacts are the little things, the things we repeat daily, that become habitual and largely blind to us. They feel easier, they feel safe, they feel right. Which is dangerous, because they feel these things even as our surroundings are shifting, even when they are no longer serving their intended purpose, even when they are harming us.
And as we go about our day, doing what we are used to doing, we aren't paying attention to the changes that are happening, nor how they are impacting on us. We think we know our situation, but all we really know is the habit. And when we feel the pain of action not meeting needs, we don't acknowledge the part we play in the outcomes, because we haven't changed, we are doing the same, so the problem can't be us, it is something else, someone else.
Throughout my career I have often met these people in organizations and industries where they feel they have established themselves, where they see themselves as experts, because they know what they are doing, and they do it well. What they commonly fail to recognize however is that the ecosystem their business or industry exists within is changing, that technology is shifting, and that culture is heading in a different direction.
When those at the company who are paid to ensure the right direction going forward and change things, they become the enemy, because they do not understand the industry, they haven't been in long enough. They don't have enough experience doing the job, day in and day out. And change resistance forms. Yet, the same people never seem to pay attention to what has instigated the changes, the course correction.
What would you correct?
In a business, everyone seems to have an opinion on what is the right way forward, yet consistently, that "way" seems to be the one that doesn't require the person making the suggestion to change. It is for the other people or the other department to make the change. It is an indication of how we don't acknowledge the gaps in ourselves and where we can be better. It is even harder when what we have to be better at, is different to what we feel is right, because we have always done it. After all, if it wasn't right, why have we done it all of these years?
I spend a lot of time thinking about our behaviors, incentives, motivations and interactions - yet I know that like everyone else, I struggle to change also. Even when I know I need to make shifts, it is incredibly hard to identify how and then consistently put in the effort to make the changes necessary. And, it is incredibly easy to see what others need to do, make suggestions and walk away.
If they don't change, our failure is on them.
We are all resilient.
We are all stubbornly sticking to what we know, even when we know we should change. We spring back into old habits easily, because we have the mental toughness to stay the same. Even when what we are doing isn't getting us to where we want to go.
Where will you invest your 10 dollars tomorrow?
More importantly, where are you going to invest your attention?
Where have you been investing it?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
