Success Advice

Being Change Capable Is Key to Your Success

Published

2 years ago

Dec 31, 2021

Image Credit: Unsplash

Think of the last time you were faced with having to make a change. Given the world we live in today, the latest change affecting you might have happened yesterday or today: an organizational change at your company; a new – important – development in your profession; a change in what your customers want; a new regulation arising from the pandemic.

If you’re like most people, your first reaction to this latest change was probably more negative than positive. Perhaps something like: Arrgh, as if the past two years haven’t been stressful enough…” along with a sinking feeling and a sense of being newly overwhelmed.

Why is the idea of change – especially change imposed upon us – so often unwelcome? Given the past few years of massive change and disruption on so many levels, you’d think we would have gotten used to non-stop personal and professional change by now.

Our Anti-Change Wiring

Blame our experience as a species. For most of human history, change has been dangerous; the safest course of action has generally been to return to the known. If there was a famine – you wanted to get back to eating regularly. If there was an invading army – you wanted to get back to peace and prosperity. You get the idea. Most of the time, returning to a previous set of stable conditions was the way to go.

Over many thousands of years, this has resulted in most people seeing most change as a threat. But today, to be successful, we often have to make changes in how we work, who we work with, and how we deal with customers. So, what’s a human to do? These five things can help you become more change-capable:

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” – Deepak Chopra

1. Find out More

When an unexpected change comes at us, we often just shut down and stop listening after the word “different.” But there’s some key information about any change that will help you decide how best to respond. First, ask for more clarity about what the change is – what it means for you, practically. Then ask why it’s happening, so you get some sense of possible benefits. Finally, ask the person promoting the change what the post-change future will look like: how it will affect your business, your customers, and your employees, if you have them. Getting this foundational information can make the change start to seem less overwhelming and more understandable.

2. Difficult to Doable

Most often, when we first hear about a change, we assume it’s going to be difficult – that we won’t know how to do it, or that others will make it hard to do. Instead, turn your mind toward how you could make it easier. Is there someone who already knows how to do what you’re being asked to do who could help you? Is there training available? Can you talk to your boss, or others promoting the change, about what it will take to do it?

3. Costly to Rewarding

We also tend to think that a change is going to take away more than it gives us: that learning how to do it will take time we can’t spare or that it will hurt our reputation – that we’ll look bad trying to do something we’re not used to doing. The change will seem less daunting if you can also focus on ways in which it might be rewarding: maybe the new way of doing things will take less time, once you’ve learned it, or will solve a problem that you know customers have been complaining about. If you discover that the long-term rewards outweigh the near-term costs, the change will start to seem more attractive – maybe even necessary.

4. Weird to Normal

One of the worst things about change is that new ways of doing things just feel weird. Anyone who’s ever had to learn to drive a stick shift as an adult, for instance, or spent time living in another culture, knows that feeling of “this just isn’t what I’m used to.” Making a change feel normal is an important way to get past our hesitation, and sometimes the quickest way to do that is to find someone you like and respect who understands and is doing things in the new way. Ask them to share with you what feels OK about it to them and listen carefully to see what resonates for you.

5. Practice Makes Perfect…or at Least OK

And finally, perhaps, the most important way to get comfortable with a new way of doing things or thinking about things is simply to do it. And then do it again. If you think about anything you’ve learned as an adult – from swing dancing, to speaking another language, to using a new social media platform – you probably remember the day when you had practiced enough that you suddenly thought “Oh, this isn’t so hard.” Once you’ve gotten some basic information about the change and started to look for ways it could be easy (or at least doable), rewarding and normal – take a deep breath and just jump into trying it out.

Every indication is that the pace of change in our lives and in the world is going to continue to increase. It’s unlikely that we’re ever going to return to a time when everything stays status quo. Having the ability to accept and respond well to necessary change is going to become more important with every passing day. Therefore, I invite you to rewire yourself in this way: to learn to think and feel differently about change; to become change-capable. It’s your best path to a successful, satisfying personal and professional life in this era of non-stop change.

Related Topics:adapting to change adjusting to change change change is inevitable key to success Success Advice Success Tips

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Erika Andersen

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus, a coaching, consulting, and training firm that focuses on leader readiness. For over three decades, she’s served as a consultant and advisor to top executives at today’s leading organizations, including Amazon, Spotify, Charter/Spectrum, and the Yale School of Public Health. She’s the author of four bestselling books, including Growing Great Employees and Be Bad First; is a popular leadership blogger at Forbes.com; and is the host of The Proteus Leader Show, a business and leadership podcast globally ranked in the top 10%. Her newest book is Change from the Inside Out: Making You, Your Team, and Your Organization Change-Capable (Berrett-Koehler Publishers; October 26, 2021). Learn more at erikaandersen.com, or follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.