A time of change can make our lives seem difficult. But it also brings us opportunities.
Understanding this fully happens in four stages.
The first is when we realise that it’s not just our own life that is becoming more difficult to predict and control but the entire world. So many changes are happening in technology, politics, society, and the environment that any project, started by any person, is likely to turn out differently from the way they planned or expected. It’s not just us, it’s everything.
Realising and accepting this enables us to let go of our emotional attachment to achieving any outcome and yet still do our best to achieve it. Then, if things don’t turn out in the way we wanted, it is easier to move on. This is the attitude that enabled Thomas Edison to invent the lightbulb: “I have not failed,” he said, “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”
The second stage is to realise that if we can’t rely on the outside world to be stable and predictable then it is more important than ever to take responsibility for giving ourselves the internal stability and direction we need. The more deeply we understand our own purpose and values and what a worthwhile life looks like to us, the more deeply we know who we are and who we most want to become, the more we will then be able to respond with focus, flexibility, and enthusiasm no matter what happens. Then we will understand that, as Zig Ziglar put it, “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.”
The third stage comes when we realise that ten years ago we did not have the skills we have today. The skills we have today arose directly from the challenges we faced in the past. So what seem like challenges today are actually opportunities for us to become whoever we most want to become. We get to choose which challenges we walk away from, which challenges we accept, and how we respond. We are in control. And the clearer we are about what matters most to us, the more easily we will then be able to choose the opportunities that inspire us most.
This brings us to the fourth stage: the realisation that we are not just human beings we are human becomings. We are not the same people today as we were five, ten, or 20 years ago. And we are certainly not the same people we will become in five or ten years from now. We are always changing. And the choices we make today will determine the person we become tomorrow.
In this time of change, no-one can predict what will happen. That’s just the way it is.
So don’t be afraid to fail, choose to grow.
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
You can sign up to daily posts here.
You can buy the book here and the workbook here.
(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also need to do the practice.)
Photo By Kevin Dooley via StockPholio.net