Change is a Essential For Growth
The majority of people hate change. Bring major changes into any business, community or organisation and there will be instant uproar. People don’t like disruption to the status quo.
The ideal way is to bring in change slowly.
One reason is that the changes can be tracked to see is they are actually changes for the better. Secondly by bringing in changes slowly, you minimizes the impact of the change and more changes can be introduced at a later stage.
Elite performers tend to be change masters; they realize that change is necessary for any sort of growth. There is the popular belief that many businesses who boast they have been in business for 10, 20 or 30 years have so much experience.
Some business who have been around for that length of time simply have 1 years experience repeated 20 times. They have not moved with the times, have not liked change and have remained the same.
Some Things Just Don’t Change.
I remember friends of mine had a Labour Hire Company. They had been working in their business for years and asked me to have a look at their systems. This was in the late 90s and I was shocked that they didn’t even have a computer.
I was astonished when it came to pay day that they rang the bank and ordered a large amount of notes and coins. They would then write the name of the contractor on the envelope and deposit exactly the amount of money they were to be paid into the envelope. They then sent someone out to the job site and handed the contractor their envelope.
For those that were working out of town, someone from the office would go to the banks in the local area and deposit money straight into their account.
Electronic transfer was available but they had just fallen so far behind the times. Remember they didn’t even have a computer. The amount of wasted time and not to mention security risks with such a large amount of money being carried around was just incredible and that was just one example of how they had failed to keep up.
The office had a fax machine (remember those) and they used to get invitations to events and seminars faxed through. They used to just rip them up and toss them in the bin. No wonder they had fallen behind the times so much. They neglected to educate themselves and their business was suffering which had a direct effect on their bottom line.
- Propelling into the future.
We are often able to use change to shoot us towards our destiny a lot faster than if the change had not occurred.
- Preparing for the future.
Change can help us to assess things before they happen, as well as to consider possible rewards, opportunities and problems in the future and anticipate their arrival.
- Providing for the future.
Change keeps us in business, on the Cutting Edge. Without it we would be condemned to relying on archaic systems and outdated communication just like my friends with their Labour Hire Company. Change can force us to move with the times, keeping us efficient and profitable.
- Producing a leaner and more efficient person.
Change often teaches us new skills and better ways of achieving our goals, thereby making us more efficient. Change educates, making us more informed, and rekindles the pioneering spirit that might have been lost in the busyness of life.
Our world is constantly changing. Especially with so much technology in the world. Only a relatively short time ago, Marconi first used the wireless to transmit the spoken word around the world. What a breakthrough! Yet today we have an exploding information superhighway.
A person in the computer industry told me that knowledge is doubling every few months! Today’s remote control, high speed, triple layer, hi res, microchip product is obsolete as soon as it has been made.
Regardless of which endeavours you’re involved in, all of them undergo change, development or refinement- sometimes on a day-to-day basis.
When I’m talking to people in daily life, meetings and business seminars/events, I often say that life is a series of changes. That’s why it’s important to understand change.
Changes can be crises or springboards. Our attitudes determine which they are for us. First we must accept them, then we must use them.
Refusing Change
People don’t like change period. Those that do embrace change tend to succeed in all aspects of life. I am both fascinated but wary of some of the changes such as Machine Learning and AI. Elon Musk has also expressed concern in relation to the exact same subjects.
The bottom line is that if you don’t like change you are going to like extinction even less.
Change is positive in the business or sports environments because it doesn’t look at who is to blame. It stimulates new ideas, seeks smarter ways of working and ultimately achieves better results.
Over the decades, Olympians have set times that people expected to remain unbroken for a long time. They were performing at then-known peaks of achievement. But coaching methods changed, exercise methods changed, the understanding of how the body works increased.
Now blistering times are set and reset every four years. Similarly, with dramatic advances in technology, communication and business-building techniques, companies are making more money now than ever before. They are producing in a cleaner and more efficient manner, while the ones clinging to antiquated methods are being left behind.
Many people have made the choice to move ahead, written down their goals, then allowed excuses to overpower their dreams. Today they are full of regret, miles and miles from their destiny.
If you have stayed in the starting blocks after the gun has gone off I have a word of encouragement for you. You might have missed the first heat, but the athletes are lining up for the second heat and you’ve still got an opportunity to put your excuses aside and GO FOR IT!
Don’t be a “should have, could have, would have” person. Get ready for change. Welcome it. Because when things change it can be change for the better.
TAKE ACTION
- What are the positives of change?
- What positive results could change produce for your life?
- Write down things you feel need to change in your life. They might include:
- Attitude (is your attitude what it should be? Remember, you choose your moods and outlook
- Mindset (are you positive or negative? What things do you need to do to change the way you think?)
- Family (are you spending enough time with your partner, children and relatives? Do you show enough affection? If not, what small thing could you do to bring about an improvement?)
- Physical (are you where you should be with your weight? Cholesterol level? Shape? If not, why not? What would need to change? Your diet? Exercise?)
- Set out an agenda of small steps you will need to take so that you can improve.
CONCLUSION
Change is a necessary part of business and life. Without it you will get left behind. If you don’t follow and keep abreast of change you will get to a point where so much change has happened you will lose touch and be forever trying to play catch up.
- The only way to allow change in life is to change.
- Dreamers effect change, change doesn’t affect them.
- Change is uncomfortable (but the effects of no change are far worse).
- Change is totally natural.
- Change releases fresh creativity and leadership.
- To resist change can be destructive.
– DCL
