Hey everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week.
Change. It is a constant theme in my work. In fact, I gear all of my work towards helping drive change, as I firmly believe that we are on a constant journey of discovery and growth. We are continuously reinventing ourselves and the world around us.
My goal is to help people make sure that they are changing and evolving consciously, rather than relying on circumstances and random life events to shape the future.
You may note that I have a new logo here; like everyone else, I am also always in a state of change. For me, the logo represents sustainable change; the tree has deep roots that provide stability and keep one grounded. And yet the leaves change throughout the seasons, offering a new look and perspective, while staying true to one’s roots.
It serves as a reminder that we can change without needing to run all over the place; we can change and still be stable.
As always, thanks for subscribing and reading.
Before You Jump: The Need For Stability To Unlock Change
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Change is hard.
That is the reality. There is no simple path to making meaningful change. It is going to be uncomfortable and you will occasionally feel discouraged.
There is a saying I have heard before somewhere; “Everyone wants change, but no one wants to be changed”. So true. Human nature drives us to continually improve, to level up, to make ourselves better. That is a good thing, as long as you balance it with an appreciation of where you currently are.
There is a tension between the two extremes of completely accepting things as they are and wanting to change everything about your life. Like most things in life, healthy moderation between the extremes is key.
Making change requires exploring the unknown, leaning into chaos. You need to enter the chaos, but carefully. And then you must work to bring order to the chaos. Once you’ve tamed that bit of chaos, bringing some order to it, you venture further. You can’t go too far in the chaos at once, or you will just become overwhelmed and discouraged.
That is where people go wrong with changing their life. Too much change, too quickly.
Before you try upending your career or life, you need to establish a solid foundation. You must have the basics sorted out first as a mandatory pre-requisite to making change. It is like the signs you may see at an amusement park showing how tall you need to be allowed on a ride.
Changes often fail because people are trying to progress without having first solidified the ground on which they stand. They are starting from shaky ground. Without a stable starting point, change will fail.
Much like you should not start renovating your kitchen when the foundation of your house is in disrepair, you should not start trying to fix your career until the foundational elements of your life are solid. Crawl before you walk, and walk before running.
So what makes a solid foundation? What are the core elements you need to have well in hand before trying to make major changes in your life or career?
1. Good health. You need to be physically and mentally prepared. When you are tired and stressed, your judgement is clouded. You cannot see over longer time horizons, as your mind and body are working to heal and recover. You must be eating a diet that is proper for you, be getting enough exercise, and be sleeping well. Often, having just one of these aspects of health be out of alignment will throw other aspects off.
2. Solid financial state. This may feel like a bit of a “chicken and egg” problem. You may seek to change in your working life with the goal of improving your financial situation. So hearing that you need to have your finances sorted out prior to making major career moves may leave you feeling stuck. But you need to find your financial footing before significantly changing your work life. You need stability and to know that you are going to survive. If you can only focus on putting food on the table, you cannot be making long-term decisions, by definition. This forces you to fight for survival, which is not a mindset to be in while trying to build for the long-term.
3. A growth mindset. You need to believe in your ability to learn, to change, and to adapt. If you operate from a fixed mindset, believing that you just “are who you are”, you can’t possibly make change.
4. A productivity system. As pointed out earlier, significant changes in your career are going to introduce chaos. You need to be equipped to deal with the chaos, to have systems in place to help you tame it. Making change will require you to expand who you are, to learn, to grow. It is going to require an investment of your time, and chances are that you are already very busy. Without systems in place to ensure that you have the time and energy required to make changes, you are not likely to succeed. James Clear points out in his best-selling book Atomic Habits, “you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”
If you try making changes before having these foundational elements in order, you won’t be thinking clearly and will make decisions for the wrong reasons. You’ll run away from something negative, out of fear, rather than running toward something positive. That usually results in poor outcomes.
Build your foundation first, before trying to introduce major changes to your work and career. Otherwise, you set yourself up for failure and provide yourself with evidence that you are not capable of change. That obviously is very detrimental in the long run.
You may feel that you are not making concrete progress on your career goals, but taking the time to invest in establishing a solid foundation will pay off immensely in your ability to progress in your career.
Build your foundation and set yourself up for explosive growth.
Quotation that I have been pondering
As a career coach, I am very interested in helping people make improvements in their working life. Many people think of their work life and personal life as being two separate things, but they are not separate. You have one life that includes work as part of it.
Which leads to this quote from Cheryl Strayed, author of several books, including the NYT bestseller Wild;
While I agree with her point that your career and your life are one, I disagree with the idea that you shouldn’t worry about your career. Improving your working life offers an amazing opportunity to improve your overall quality of life.
Anyone who has been stuck in a job that they resent can definitely relate to what I am saying.
Journal Prompt
Modern life is busy. If you don’t protect your time and energy to allocate it to what matters most to you, other people will eagerly consume it all for you. That is no way to live. People say they value one thing, but often behave in a manner that does not align with those values.
Pull out your journal and your calendar for today. Take a few moments to respond to the following journal prompts:
Life is precious; you can’t afford to not allow any time for activities that are important to you. You are truly free when you are the one that controls how you are spending your time. Claim some freedom.
