Hey everybody! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
I hope you’ve had an amazing weekend!!
I’ve had ‘change’ on my mind this week. Since change is something that we all have to deal with, I figured I’d share my thoughts with you. The pace of change will not slow down, so you might as well equip yourself to deal with it more effectively.
If you found it helpful, please let me know! (and forward it on to others who may benefit as well)
On with it!!
Tim
Channel Your Inner Chameleon: How To Navigate Constant Change
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“The only constant is change.”
It’s very much a cliché, but there’s a reason we hear clichés all the time; there’s typically a grain of truth in them. This cliché has never been truer than today in a world where the pace of change keeps speeding up at an incredible rate. This makes your ability to adapt to change one of the greatest assets you can have. It is no longer a ‘nice to have’ skill, but has become a necessity.
We all know this. Yet most of us still resist change, particularly when it is unexpected. We deal fairly well dealing with slow, expected changes, like the transition from fall to winter or winter to spring. But we struggle a lot more when change shows up quickly and unexpectedly, disrupting our plans in ways we never saw coming. That type of change is *hard* to deal with.
The ever-increasing rate of change in the world challenges us to rethink not just how we work, but how we grow, learn, and adapt in our personal lives.
In this article, we will explore why we resist change and the critical role one’s mindset plays in helping navigate these changes. We will briefly talk about the future of work and then explore some practical strategies for dealing with the changes it implies.
While change can be scary, it can also be an opportunity for incredible growth, so it’s worth improving your ability to handle it. It will open so many doors if you’re able to adapt quickly to a changing world, so it is worth digging in and learning how to deal with change more effectively.
The Psychological Basis of Resisting Change
Why are we so averse to change?
Change, even when expected, challenges our sense of security and comfort. Our brains seek certainty. Psychologically, we are wired to prefer predictability and stability. Our comfort zones, though limiting, offer a sense of control and safety. That is why they are comfortable; we feel safe when we can predict how things will play out. Knowing what to expect means that we know what we need to do to succeed; we can have confidence in our abilities. Conversely, during times of change and upheaval, there is immense uncertainty; we don’t know what to expect, and may doubt our ability to thrive in the new environment in which we find ourselves thrust. This uncertainty triggers our ‘fight or flight’ response, which is not only stressful but also puts us in a poor state for decision-making.
Certain cognitive biases can further increase our resistance to change. One such bias is loss aversion, which refers to us feeling that the pain of loss is more potent than the pleasure of gaining. Even though we may gain significantly by making a change, we usually need to undergo a loss; there are always trade-offs. Our tendency to feel losses much more strongly can make us resist change, even though we might benefit from making the change.
Another cognitive bias that can keep us from embracing change is the ‘sunk cost fallacy’. This bias stops us from changing our approach, even if there’s a better one, because we feel we’ve already made heavy investments in the current one.
Overconfidence bias leads to an exaggerated view of one’s abilities or accuracy of knowledge. It can lead to a dismissal of new information or new ways of doing things, under the assumption that the current methods are already optimal.
To navigate change better, it’s important to understand these psychological underpinnings and how they may impact your thinking.
Your mindset matters.
In her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, psychologist Carol Dweck proposed that there are two types of mindsets; fixed and growth. Those with a fixed mindset see intelligence, learning ability, and talents as permanent personality traits. Conversely, people with a growth mindset will believe that they can learn, develop, and improve upon any of those traits with time and effort.
If you have a fixed mindset, coping with change becomes enormously difficult. Not having confidence in your ability to change, learn, and grow means you won’t believe in your ability to adapt and respond to changes. Change typically implies the need to develop new skills, to learn, and to improve, so if you approach change with a fixed mindset, you’ve set yourself up to fail.
Adapting to change requires you to adopt a growth mindset; there really is no choice. You need to believe in your ability to learn and grow if you are to cope effectively with change. If your tendency is to have a fixed mindset, the first step to learning to deal with change is moving towards having more of a growth mindset. It isn’t impossible to do! You need to prove to yourself that you can learn, improve, and change. The best way to do that is by picking an area of life you’d like to improve or an interest you’d like to further develop and then learn. By doing so, you will prove to yourself that you can learn and improve, which shifts you towards a growth mindset.
Look at change and its challenges as opportunities for learning and development, rather than as negatives. This perspective encourages you to step out of your comfort zone, embrace new experiences, and view failure as a stepping stone to success.
Without change, you cannot grow.
The Future of Work and Change
The digital age has brought about a paradigm shift in how we live and work. Technology evolves at a breakneck pace, bringing about changes that are often unexpected and rapid. This digital transformation required us to develop a new form of literacy; digital literacy. It’s not just about learning to use new tools; it’s about adapting to a digital mindset, where change is constant and learning is continuous.
The distinction between working time and personal time has become very blurred. This is because of the convenient and constant availability of work services like email and instant messaging, even outside of work hours. The shift to remote work has many of us working from home for large portions of the time, further blurring the line between work time and personal time.
These fundamental shifts to the way work happens have given workers more flexibility and reduced commute times. But many employers now want employees to reply promptly, even when they’re not working. This forces employees to further develop their capacity to manage their time and workload effectively.
Fluidity and uncertainty are now the norm in the world of work. Being open to continuous learning and major career pivots is necessary in this new world. The future of work is not just about technological skills; it’s equally about soft skills like adaptability, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. These skills enable professionals to navigate career transitions and adapt to new work environments or job roles.
So how does one go about preparing oneself to thrive amidst all of this chaos and change?
Strategies for Embracing Change
- Mindfulness. Mindfulness practices like meditation help you lessen your attachments, which help promote flexibility. It is also a proven technique for dealing with stress and allows you to step back from your emotional reactions and gain clarity on what is truly important.
- Self-awareness. Busy professionals often lack time for reflection because of constant meetings and emails. Time spent thinking about what is – and isn’t – working for you in your work is so valuable. Through introspection, you gain valuable insight into how to improve the work you deliver. These insights can provide the ideal launch pad for you to trigger change, putting you in the driver’s seat. Change is easier to accept when you’re the one driving it.
- Strategic planning. Rather than spending all your time in the day-to-day tasks, invest some time in learning more about trends in your industry, and in the world of work. Anticipating potential changes and preparing contingency plans can reduce the impact of unexpected changes.
- Never stop learning. Continuously learning new skills will help increase your ability to respond to change, as each skill is like having another tool in your toolbox. It is always better to have a wide range of options available to you. As a bonus, you’ll reinforce your belief in your ability to learn, which you know will be critical for your ability to respond to future changes.
- Small steps. We grossly under-estimate the cumulative impact of consistent progress, thinking that we need to be something big. But in reality, small steps taken consistently get you a lot farther – and faster – than the occasional leap forward. Each time you stretch yourself by exiting your comfort zone and have success, you expand your comfort zone. It gets bigger and bigger, giving you a much greater expanse from which to work. That is a massive boost to your resiliency in dealing with change.
Conclusion
There is little doubt change can be scary, especially if it is unexpected. But as I opened this article, “the only constant is change”. Given that, you had best equip yourself to deal with change. It is not like the pace is going to slow.
If you grasp your psychological resistance to change and apply the strategies I’ve explained, you’ll be ready to handle change as it comes. With the right mindset and strategies, you can move from merely surviving change to actively thriving in it.
Change is the only way to ‘better’.
Rather than fearing change, learn to roll with it. Even to embrace it. It’s where the exciting stuff can happen.
Your call to adventure!
Feeling the call to make some career changes?
Work does not need to suck. I help people like you figure out how to design and craft a work life that works for you.
Instead of trying to do it on your own, let me help and guide you.
I’ve got the tools and a proven framework to help get you there.
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Quotation that I have been pondering
This quote from author Sarah Hepola is the perfect complement to the theme of this week’s article.
A great approach to dealing with change is to be the one doing the hard work of building that bridge. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.
Journal Prompt
As I’ve alluded to several times throughout this newsletter, while change is never easy, it is a lot easier to deal with when you’re the one deciding to make the change. In that spirit, consider this week’s journal prompt.
If you’re like most of us (myself included!), you probably have a long list of things you’d like to change. List them all out, but then choose just one of them.
Then commit to making progress on that change every day. It should be small enough of a change that you can commit to progress every day.
Not some days, not tomorrow. Starting now.
Every day.
Let me know what you plan to do!
