Photo courtesy of The Good Men Project
Ah, change…love it or hate it, it’s inevitable. It comes whether you like it or not. That’s why the best approach is not to resist change and do battle with it, but to find ways to make it your friend. This is the message of a recent article I wrote for The Good Men Project, entitled “Don’t Let Change Be a Stranger; How To Embrace It as Your New Best Friend.” You can read it here.
Even before the pandemic, people did not like change. Change is pain, it literally hurts our brains to have to change. That’s why our brains work so hard to resist change, preferring to stick to old habits and patterns. But with all the disruptions that the pandemic has brought, from work-life balance to childcare to online schooling to endless Zoom meetings, our previously predictable world has been turned upside down. What to do?
A friend is someone we trust, who is special to us and is appreciated
I’m a culture change expert, and in the article I talk about how, instead of seeing change as a friend, we treat it the way we do a stranger. It is foreign to us and we are afraid of it because we are afraid of the unknown. This resistance to change is in part due to the way your mind creates a story about who you are and that story becomes your reality. Your mind deletes anything that does not fit your reality. It even creates barriers to progress that you need to overcome, in your business life, your relationships and your own life journey.
How can you become friends with change? 3 suggestions:
- Create a new story. If your old story about who you are is holding you back, it’s time to create a new one, where you are the hero. If you imagine a new future, you can act on it.
- Collaborate with your mind. To create a new story, you literally need to have a conversation with your mind, telling it what you want it to do. Make the unfamiliar familiar so you can embrace it.
- Ignore change fatigue. Make no mistake: change is stressful, tiring and often confusing. But don’t let yourself use these as an excuse not to change. One thing the pandemic has shown us is how much people can change.
Above all, think about change as your friend that’s going through this with you. When you do this, you might even enjoy the journey.
Do you need some change in your life? Perhaps we can help.
Are you happy with your career, your relationships and your own life story, or are you ready for something more fulfilling? To start you thinking about change, check out these blogs and podcasts:
- Blog: Overcome The Pain Of Change: Easy Lessons From Anthropology
- Blog: Now That You Have Your Crisis, What Do You Change?
- Podcast: Michael Tate—Are You Terrified Of The Pain Of Change?
- Podcast: Rita McGrath—Don’t Run From Change, Embrace It!
To talk further, please contact us at info@andisimon.com. We love helping people and organizations change, and we’re ready to work with you.
From Observation to Innovation,
Andi Simon, Ph.D.
Corporate Anthropologist | Author | CEO Simon Associates Management Consultants
Andisimon.com
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