Motivation By Daily Momentum
By John Watson
Do you ever find that you do not carry out your plans? If not, perhaps your plans are too complicated. If you follow a simple plan every single day great things can be achieved.
Years ago, I tried lifting weights in an attempt to develop a magnificent physique like that of my hero - Tarzan of the Apes. I did not succeed!
A big stumbling block was the advice in the magazines to train on only 3 days a week with a rest day in between. This was probably good advice from a physical point of view but psychologically it ignored the power of daily momentum.
If you practice something every single day, you develop a feeling of drive and power i.e. momentum. Your self-confidence grows like Jack's famous bean stalk. You feel that you, too, are climbing swiftly, or at least steadily, towards your goal and the giant's huge treasure chest. You are highly motivated.
But if you take a rest day even if it is well earned, you give yourself an excuse to take another rest day. Your action plan becomes blurred and lacks clarity. You lose momentum and have to start up all over again.
Doing something every single day has a powerful simplicity about it.
When the Japanese runner, Seko, won the Boston Marathon in 1981, he was asked about his training methods. He explained his method in twelve words.
“I run 10 kilometers in the morning and 20 in the evening.”
This double action a day plan enabled him to outrun the world’s most gifted runners. When Seko was told that his plan seemed too simple, compared to that of other marathoners, he replied:
“The plan is simple, but I do it every single day, 365 days a year”.
Simple? Yes. Easy? No Most people fail to reach their goals not because their plans are too simple or too complicated. They fail because they do not follow their own plans. All plans are useless if they are not followed.
Seko’s plan was effective not because it was simple but because he followed it 'every single day'.
Albert Einstein summed up the importance of continuous movement in his own imaginative way:
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."
There were no bicycles available in medieval times but they could teach us a thing or two about momentum.
According to the famous legend, King Arthur's knights of the Round Table followed one dominant idea - the love of God, humans and noble deeds. The King expected his knights to perform one noble deed a day before the evening banquet.
This noble deed expressed their love of God and humanity. Fictitious or not, the King, or his creators, knew the power of daily achievement and momentum.
After achieving at least one noble deed a day, the knights could enjoy their roast venison and goblet of wine with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.
A year or so ago, I wrote one article a day for about three months. This gave me a daily feeling of achievement and success. I am not sure if my readers felt the articles were a success but the feeling of daily momentum helped me to continue the practice for some time.
Movement creates more movement. Take one step and you will take another.
Once a habit is formed you may no longer need to keep up daily activity. My habit of writing articles is now so deeply ingrained that I can no longer stop myself writing articles!
When in need of advice, I write an article to myself and anybody else who might find the ideas helpful!
Probably I would have done better to continue writing a daily article but if you or I cannot make daily progress, we can at least make weekly progress.
In reality, you don't have time to form all the habits or develop all the skills you want to by doing them all every single day. Momentum can still be maintained at a lower level even without daily activity.
Regular weekly or monthly action will be time enough to make progress on the skills or activities which are not your main ones or which become less important as you move on to new interests.
If you are learning a martial art, you might not have time to attend a class every day, but you can attend at least once or twice a week. If you do, you will make progress. I see the evidence for this on a regular basis with my own martial arts students.
Those who attend classes twice a week usually reach black belt before those who attend once a week and those who attend sporadically can take as long as seven or eight years to reach their first black belt even though some of them are very talented. They may just be too busy or may find regular training too boring.
So then, try to work on your main goals every single day but, if you cannot manage that, work on them once every other day or once a week or even once a month. You will still make enough progress to keep you motivated.
If you don't keep moving in the direction you want to go, you will get easily depressed and feel like a failure. If you take action daily and move steadily toward your goal, you will find it hard to stay defeated and depressed.
Daily, focused action and momentum are signs of life and success. The failure to take daily action can lead only to stagnation and frustration. The only thing that can go from one part of the world to another without moving is the road.
Daily action leads to momentum - the power of continuous movement. Once you have started moving and kept it going for a while it will become easier and easier to continue along your chosen path.
If you keep starting and then stopping, the path becomes tougher and tougher. Starting is usually the most difficult task. Getting out of your favorite chair is tough but, once you're up, walking is comparatively easy. If you get back into your chair you need to use an extra burst of energy to get up again.
If you start a task and then stop, you have to gather your thoughts and any necessary materials together before you can start again.
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves in 1991 made more profits than any other film in the world. Why? Because Robin is a man of action who is involved in daily action in pursuit of his goals. People instinctively love someone who takes regular action.
In a spoof, role reversal TV series called 'Maid Marian and Her Merry Men', Robin is spending time worrying about what he should wear. He comments:
"I wouldn't be seen dead in this."
Maid Marian immediately rebukes him for his lack of speedy action:
"You will be seen dead in this in approximately two seconds time if you don't get moving!"
We all need to start moving and keep moving. Tarzan hardly ever wasted time speaking unless he was with Jane and even then he was a man of few words. He seldom stood still. Instead, he just grabbed the nearest vine and was off swinging through the jungle - not a bad role model!
Tarzan did not, of course, carry a notepad and biro with him. However, we can.
A list of what we plan to do is worth carrying with us at all times. It can be a powerful tool in our attempt to maintain both motivation and momentum.
Just writing or typing what you plan to do today can make it far more likely that you will do it. I tried this today and immediately did two things I had been putting off for a long time.
Remember too that a simple plan acted on daily is far superior to a complicated plan which is never carried out.
John Watson's main motivational ebook can be found at http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php
The sales page alone is highly motivating!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD......DON'T BE AFRAID
Fear of Change? How to Easily Overcome it and Increase Your Confidence
By Kunbi Korostensky
When facing a change, most people invariably feel insecure, lost and overwhelmed.
Still, do you agree with me that life without any form of changes would not only be monotonous but also inconceivable?
Afterall, one aspect of why we all love living is the excitement and anticipation of the unexpected in life!
Here is a thought for you. What do you say to yourself after having had a really bad day? If you're like the majority of people, you'll probably be happy it is over when you go to bed.
Maybe saying something like this to yourself: "Phew I'm darn glad, this day is over… wonder what tomorrow will bring!" Hoping for a change.
Do you see what I mean? Every single day brings certain form of changes into our lives. In fact these small changes, are crucial. For they offer new opportunity and create room for adjustments.
So why are many people afraid of facing changes, if these are there to help us?
In psychology there are a number of reasons that can render a person fearful of a change. But I am not about to launch into a psycho-debate on the dysfunctionality of the mind here.
What I want to do, is to show you how you can quickly and easily banish those fears and enjoy a sense of freedom and inner security.
Fact 1. : People who are passionate about growing are never afraid of a change. To them change is simply another way of taking charge and living fully.
Irrelevant of their positions in life, they know that it is of utmost importance to keep an open mind and be alert in spirit. For nothing in life ever stays the same.
Fact 2. You can't wish a change away. Your life would become more engaging and bountiful, when you can let go of your fear.
So without any further ado.
Build a strong relationship with your fear
When a new change comes your way, tell yourself, what it is that you're afraid of and look at the fear. You may even want to write it down. There's something magical about writing things down. Feel like you're confiding in someone else, even if it's only on paper. Once you face your fear, you'll find that it begins to lose its power over you. Instead of you becoming enslaved, you now have the upper hand.
Play the devil's advocate
One reason for our fear of change is often because we feel inadequate. We feel that we are incapable of handling a new situation. Should this be the case with you, simply see yourself in the worst case scenario.
Make yourself comfortable and allow your mind to re-live the various stages of what you fear at least twice. The third time around let the fear fade away like a smoke. See yourself emerging from it wholesome, peaceful and invincible. Feel the joy of being in charge and the triumph of knowing the fear is only a shadow.
Reclaim your inborn power
I know how frustrating it can be, if you're trying to move forward and find yourself being held back by fear. Once you've re-emerged feeling invincible, you want to use that momentum to turn things around.
To do this, ask yourself this question: "what simple action can I take here and now to start moving toward my new direction?". Wait for the answer to surface. Then do it without stalling. Should you get multiple ideas, just apply the one you feel comes easiest to you first. Moving later on to the other ideas after you've completed the previous ones.
Test the waters for lurking "gremlins"
To be certain that you're now embarking on a steady path to overcoming your fear of change, do the following. Subject yourself knowingly to your uncomfortable feelings about changes from time to time. This is to help you recognize the lurking fear i.e. the "gremlins".
Observe how you react: Do you immediately shut down or do you find yourself trying to be creative with the feelings? The more constructive you can deal with your uneasy feelings around change, the quicker you'll be able to move past your fear of change.
When in a dilemma, I firmly believe in asking for inner guidance. If you find yourself still struggling with fear, don't feel dejected, pray for help. It works wonder! Laugh a lot, be joyful and give yourself to others. A heart full of joy and trust has no room for fear.
Take the time to integrate these steps into your life. Before long, you'll find yourself getting more and more excited about new possibilities. The more you're able to connect with and activate your innate power, the less susceptible you'll be to fear of change.
Kunbi Korostensky, N.D., Psychotherapist and Certified Life Changer Coach TM is specialised in supporting people through various life changes. She helps them become more confident with their change and to use the change to bring more joy and happiness into their lives. Sign up for her monthly ezine at http://www.embracingchanges.com or mailto:kunbi@embracingchanges.com
By Kunbi Korostensky
When facing a change, most people invariably feel insecure, lost and overwhelmed.
Still, do you agree with me that life without any form of changes would not only be monotonous but also inconceivable?
Afterall, one aspect of why we all love living is the excitement and anticipation of the unexpected in life!
Here is a thought for you. What do you say to yourself after having had a really bad day? If you're like the majority of people, you'll probably be happy it is over when you go to bed.
Maybe saying something like this to yourself: "Phew I'm darn glad, this day is over… wonder what tomorrow will bring!" Hoping for a change.
Do you see what I mean? Every single day brings certain form of changes into our lives. In fact these small changes, are crucial. For they offer new opportunity and create room for adjustments.
So why are many people afraid of facing changes, if these are there to help us?
In psychology there are a number of reasons that can render a person fearful of a change. But I am not about to launch into a psycho-debate on the dysfunctionality of the mind here.
What I want to do, is to show you how you can quickly and easily banish those fears and enjoy a sense of freedom and inner security.
Fact 1. : People who are passionate about growing are never afraid of a change. To them change is simply another way of taking charge and living fully.
Irrelevant of their positions in life, they know that it is of utmost importance to keep an open mind and be alert in spirit. For nothing in life ever stays the same.
Fact 2. You can't wish a change away. Your life would become more engaging and bountiful, when you can let go of your fear.
So without any further ado.
Build a strong relationship with your fear
When a new change comes your way, tell yourself, what it is that you're afraid of and look at the fear. You may even want to write it down. There's something magical about writing things down. Feel like you're confiding in someone else, even if it's only on paper. Once you face your fear, you'll find that it begins to lose its power over you. Instead of you becoming enslaved, you now have the upper hand.
Play the devil's advocate
One reason for our fear of change is often because we feel inadequate. We feel that we are incapable of handling a new situation. Should this be the case with you, simply see yourself in the worst case scenario.
Make yourself comfortable and allow your mind to re-live the various stages of what you fear at least twice. The third time around let the fear fade away like a smoke. See yourself emerging from it wholesome, peaceful and invincible. Feel the joy of being in charge and the triumph of knowing the fear is only a shadow.
Reclaim your inborn power
I know how frustrating it can be, if you're trying to move forward and find yourself being held back by fear. Once you've re-emerged feeling invincible, you want to use that momentum to turn things around.
To do this, ask yourself this question: "what simple action can I take here and now to start moving toward my new direction?". Wait for the answer to surface. Then do it without stalling. Should you get multiple ideas, just apply the one you feel comes easiest to you first. Moving later on to the other ideas after you've completed the previous ones.
Test the waters for lurking "gremlins"
To be certain that you're now embarking on a steady path to overcoming your fear of change, do the following. Subject yourself knowingly to your uncomfortable feelings about changes from time to time. This is to help you recognize the lurking fear i.e. the "gremlins".
Observe how you react: Do you immediately shut down or do you find yourself trying to be creative with the feelings? The more constructive you can deal with your uneasy feelings around change, the quicker you'll be able to move past your fear of change.
When in a dilemma, I firmly believe in asking for inner guidance. If you find yourself still struggling with fear, don't feel dejected, pray for help. It works wonder! Laugh a lot, be joyful and give yourself to others. A heart full of joy and trust has no room for fear.
Take the time to integrate these steps into your life. Before long, you'll find yourself getting more and more excited about new possibilities. The more you're able to connect with and activate your innate power, the less susceptible you'll be to fear of change.
Kunbi Korostensky, N.D., Psychotherapist and Certified Life Changer Coach TM is specialised in supporting people through various life changes. She helps them become more confident with their change and to use the change to bring more joy and happiness into their lives. Sign up for her monthly ezine at http://www.embracingchanges.com or mailto:kunbi@embracingchanges.com
Friday, September 21, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD..........LIKE IT OR NOT IT'S COMING
"CHANGE IS HARD.
CHANGE IS HARDEST ON THOSE CAUGHT BY SURPRISE.
CHANGE IS HARDEST ON THOSE WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY CHANGING TOO.
BUT CHANGE IS NATURAL ; CHANGE IS NOT NEW ;
CHANGE IS IMPORTANT" ..................
THE WORLD IS FLAT
BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD.......BUT IT'S BETTER WHEN YOU'RE PREPARED
The 5 Essential Ingredients for Successful Change
By Duncan Brodie
In the corporate world and life change is inevitable. Despite this, there is lots of evidence of change failing to deliver the desired results. What do those changes that succeed have as their essential ingredients?
1. Commitment
If anything is going to change, there must be commitment at all levels. The top team need to be clear on the need for the change, buy into it and be committed to helping others achieve it. Managers at all levels need to be committed to addressing misconceptions, gaining trust, supporting and encouraging each other and their teams. Employees need to be totally committed too, as it is this group that will ultimately determine whether it is a success or not.
2. Communication
When employees are not clear what is happening, they start to speculate, make their own judgements and choices. A clear and effective communication strategy is one of the essential cornerstones of any change. People need clear communication on:
• The reasons for change
• The benefits
• How any impact such as job losses will be handled
3. Realism
Successful change is grounded in realism. Take for example two organisations that are facing significant financial challenges. The CEO of A PLC states that it will take three years to turn things round. The CEO of B PLC states that everything will be fixed in 9 months. If you are a shareholder, analyst, employee, supplier or customer, which organisation are you most likely to get behind?
4. Defined Outcome
Any organisation that wants to make a successful change needs to be clear on where it is heading and what it will be like when the change has been completed. Some of the questions that need to be considered include:
• How will we be viewed in the market place
• What will our balance sheet look like
• How will people behave
• What will we have a reputation for
5. Clear Accountability
The fifth essential ingredient in successful change is make sure that everyone know what they are responsible for and that there is a clear process that holds people to account for what they have achieved. It also allows people to ask for help and support when things are not progressing as they would have expected.
At the end of the day there are no guarantees that any change will succeed. Nevertheless by adopting some simple steps, you can greatly enhance the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Duncan Brodie is a Leadership Development Coach and Management Trainer.
He specialises in helping brilliant accountants and professionals to become great leaders so that they maximize their career and earnings potential. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk
By Duncan Brodie
In the corporate world and life change is inevitable. Despite this, there is lots of evidence of change failing to deliver the desired results. What do those changes that succeed have as their essential ingredients?
1. Commitment
If anything is going to change, there must be commitment at all levels. The top team need to be clear on the need for the change, buy into it and be committed to helping others achieve it. Managers at all levels need to be committed to addressing misconceptions, gaining trust, supporting and encouraging each other and their teams. Employees need to be totally committed too, as it is this group that will ultimately determine whether it is a success or not.
2. Communication
When employees are not clear what is happening, they start to speculate, make their own judgements and choices. A clear and effective communication strategy is one of the essential cornerstones of any change. People need clear communication on:
• The reasons for change
• The benefits
• How any impact such as job losses will be handled
3. Realism
Successful change is grounded in realism. Take for example two organisations that are facing significant financial challenges. The CEO of A PLC states that it will take three years to turn things round. The CEO of B PLC states that everything will be fixed in 9 months. If you are a shareholder, analyst, employee, supplier or customer, which organisation are you most likely to get behind?
4. Defined Outcome
Any organisation that wants to make a successful change needs to be clear on where it is heading and what it will be like when the change has been completed. Some of the questions that need to be considered include:
• How will we be viewed in the market place
• What will our balance sheet look like
• How will people behave
• What will we have a reputation for
5. Clear Accountability
The fifth essential ingredient in successful change is make sure that everyone know what they are responsible for and that there is a clear process that holds people to account for what they have achieved. It also allows people to ask for help and support when things are not progressing as they would have expected.
At the end of the day there are no guarantees that any change will succeed. Nevertheless by adopting some simple steps, you can greatly enhance the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Duncan Brodie is a Leadership Development Coach and Management Trainer.
He specialises in helping brilliant accountants and professionals to become great leaders so that they maximize their career and earnings potential. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk
Thursday, September 13, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD.......IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY !!!
Empower Yourself: Take Responsibility For Your Life
By Priya Shah
Have you ever gone through a difficult time in your life? A period when you felt helpless and powerless to deal with your circumstances and destiny? We all have.
Many of us have experienced the tragedy of abusive childhoods, broken relationships or the loss of a loved one. The easiest thing to do in times like these is to blame other people or circumstances for your life, your state of mind, your finances and career.
It’s so easy to blame an abusive parent for the way you are today, or a broken relationship for destroying your ability to love again. But blame is a very disempowering emotion.
It places on others the responsibility for your life, your emotions, your self. It disempowers you because you cannot change people or circumstances. The only thing you can change is yourself and the way you react to them.
Some people go through their lives blaming others, living in hopelessness and despair. But, with the exception of child abuse or losing someone you love, no one can do anything to you that you do not give them the permission to do.
By choosing to let things happen they way they do, you are as much to blame for the consequences. It takes a lot of courage to accept that you’re the way you are because of the choices you made. But it can be very empowering indeed.
The simple act of taking responsibility for your self and your life is the first step towards picking up the pieces and moving on. When you shift the onus of change to yourself, the constraints of the past are lifted and you can be anything you choose to be.
True empowerment is not about taking control, passing laws, fighting injustice or changing the world. Empowerment starts from within. It comes from your willingness to be responsible for what is happening to you, your life and your world.
At some point in our lives we all face adversity. Some of us blame others, while others own responsibility and get on with their lives.
The way we deal with our pain and let it transform us makes the difference between winning and losing the battle. When you realise that and act on it, you are truly the master of your own destiny.
Copyright © Priya Florence Shah Priya Florence Shah manages Naaree.com, India's first portal for empowered women and blogs about self-improvement and spirituality. Click here for relationship tips and advice.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD........DEAL WITH IT
How To Deal With Change
By Joe Love
It is often said that the only things in life that are inevitable are death and taxes. Well, you can add a third item to the things that are inevitable, and that is change. And change is happening faster than at any time in human history.
When the Berlin Wall came down and the Worldwide Web went up, the world changed forever. The Industrial Age came to an end and the Communication Age began. If “the good old days” ever did exist, they are gone forever. We are caught up in a perpetual motion of change, swirling all around us, that we will never be able to avoid. In other words, this rate of change is here to stay.
To deal effectively with change you cannot let it frustrate or upset you. You cannot attempt to minimize or avoid change. Instead, you have to learn how to deal with change, and use it to your advantage.
It begins with acceptance. Change is an essential element of life itself, yet we almost instinctively resist it. Most people believe that if they ignore change, it won't happen. That if they ignore change, somehow time will turn back to the way things were years ago. But that is not going to happen.
Change is occuring so quickly, in fact, that we no longer have the luxury of adapting to it gradually. Instead of resisting change, we have to develop the habit of welcoming and working with it. The future belongs to those who anticipate change and have a plan to respond to it. We'll never be able to completely contol change, but we can manage our participation in it and our reaction to it.
The most valuable quality your can ever develop to deal with change is flexibility. You must form the habit of remaining open-minded and adaptable to new information and circumstances. When things go wrong and problems come up, as they often do, instead of becoming upset and frustrated, look for the benefit that is always contained in the change.
In order to be able to master change, you always have to remain calm and keep your wits about you in the midst of unexpected turbulence. First, take a deep breath, relax, and then assess the situation objectively. It is always important to keep yourself calm and unemotional. You can do this, by asking questions and seeking information when things don’t work out the way you would like them to.
Whenever an unexpected change or setback occurs, successful people immediately focus their mind on where they want to be at a future time. This future vision is something that he or she has planned and given a lot of thought to, so it is fairly easy to conjure up at a moment’s notice.
Since your conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time, when you make a habit of continuously thinking about your goal or your future vision, your mind immediately becomes calm and positive. You feel in control of the situation and your life. Successful men and woman always choose the future over the past. They never loose time and energy by looking around for someone to blame or criticize. They keep themselves performing at their best by thinking and talking about their desired future.
The critical issue in dealing with change is having control. Most of your stress and unhappiness in life comes as a result of feeling out of control in a particular area in your life. If you think about the times or places where you feel the very best about yourself, you will notice a high degree of control in those places. One of the reasons why you like to come home after a trip is because, after you walk through your front door, you feel completely in control of your environment.
The only thing you have complete control over is content of your conscious mind. So, for you to effectively deal with change, you must have full control over thoughts. Since change is inevitable and continuous, it is how you think about what is happening to you that will be the most important factor in determining how change will affect you. How you think about what is happening to you will determine whether you will use change to your advantage or let it work to your disadvantage.
To succeed in the Communication Age, you must become a “change master.” You have to learn to welcome and embrace change. You must be able to ride the tides of change rather than trying to swim against them. You can do this by taking control of the direction of change in your life and assuring that it is predominantly positive and brings about the improvements you want in your life.
You can greatly increase your stability during these often turbulent times of change by setting goals and then making a detailed written plan to achieve them. Goals enable you to control the direction of change. When you have goals, change becomes planned and deliberate, instead of random and haphazard. Goals assure that the changes that take place in your life are primarily self-determined to be positive and move you toward what you want to achieve, rather than blow you off course.
When you have a clear vision of where you’re going and what you want to accomplish, you develop resilience, which is the ability to bounce back rather than break. You develop a positive attitude and you become the type of person who is resistant to the negative emotions that affect people who do not have goals or any direction in their life.
One of the best ways to deal with change is to simply to accept the change as a reality. Acceptance is the opposite of rejection or resistance. Acceptance keeps your mind calm and positive. The minute you accept that a change has occurred, you immediately become more capable of dealing with the change and turning it to your advantage.
Often, a change signals that your plans are incomplete or that you might be heading in the wrong direction. Serious changes, which seemingly create real problems, are often signals that you are on the wrong track. Instead of resisting change, like a pine tree that snaps in a strong wind, you need to learn to bend with change, like willow tree. Once you learn to do this, you’ll find that change is a healthy and positive step toward achieving your goals.
If you look at any change, you will always find something good and beneficial in it for you. Always look for the valuable lesson that is contained within every change. What is the hidden advantage that you can turn into your benefit? Could this change save you from a much bigger problem in the future? Since you mind can hold only one thought at a time, always force yourself to look for the positive aspect of any change. When you do this, you’ll keep your mind clear, and you’ll keep your attitude optimistic and confident.
Successful men and women are always able to deal effectively in a rapidly changing situation. The higher up you go, the greater your income and responsibilities will be and in turn, the faster change will be all around you. Your ability to function with calmness, clarity, and quiet assurance in every situation will determine your success in times of change more than anything else. If you are going to be successful in the Communication Age, you have to accept change, improve upon it, and then move on to the next situation. As you continue to do this, you will have such a wonderful feeling of self-control and self-determination that your whole life will be bright and positive. The results you can achieve in every area of your life will be unlimited.
Copyright©2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe’s work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace.
Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com
By Joe Love
It is often said that the only things in life that are inevitable are death and taxes. Well, you can add a third item to the things that are inevitable, and that is change. And change is happening faster than at any time in human history.
When the Berlin Wall came down and the Worldwide Web went up, the world changed forever. The Industrial Age came to an end and the Communication Age began. If “the good old days” ever did exist, they are gone forever. We are caught up in a perpetual motion of change, swirling all around us, that we will never be able to avoid. In other words, this rate of change is here to stay.
To deal effectively with change you cannot let it frustrate or upset you. You cannot attempt to minimize or avoid change. Instead, you have to learn how to deal with change, and use it to your advantage.
It begins with acceptance. Change is an essential element of life itself, yet we almost instinctively resist it. Most people believe that if they ignore change, it won't happen. That if they ignore change, somehow time will turn back to the way things were years ago. But that is not going to happen.
Change is occuring so quickly, in fact, that we no longer have the luxury of adapting to it gradually. Instead of resisting change, we have to develop the habit of welcoming and working with it. The future belongs to those who anticipate change and have a plan to respond to it. We'll never be able to completely contol change, but we can manage our participation in it and our reaction to it.
The most valuable quality your can ever develop to deal with change is flexibility. You must form the habit of remaining open-minded and adaptable to new information and circumstances. When things go wrong and problems come up, as they often do, instead of becoming upset and frustrated, look for the benefit that is always contained in the change.
In order to be able to master change, you always have to remain calm and keep your wits about you in the midst of unexpected turbulence. First, take a deep breath, relax, and then assess the situation objectively. It is always important to keep yourself calm and unemotional. You can do this, by asking questions and seeking information when things don’t work out the way you would like them to.
Whenever an unexpected change or setback occurs, successful people immediately focus their mind on where they want to be at a future time. This future vision is something that he or she has planned and given a lot of thought to, so it is fairly easy to conjure up at a moment’s notice.
Since your conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time, when you make a habit of continuously thinking about your goal or your future vision, your mind immediately becomes calm and positive. You feel in control of the situation and your life. Successful men and woman always choose the future over the past. They never loose time and energy by looking around for someone to blame or criticize. They keep themselves performing at their best by thinking and talking about their desired future.
The critical issue in dealing with change is having control. Most of your stress and unhappiness in life comes as a result of feeling out of control in a particular area in your life. If you think about the times or places where you feel the very best about yourself, you will notice a high degree of control in those places. One of the reasons why you like to come home after a trip is because, after you walk through your front door, you feel completely in control of your environment.
The only thing you have complete control over is content of your conscious mind. So, for you to effectively deal with change, you must have full control over thoughts. Since change is inevitable and continuous, it is how you think about what is happening to you that will be the most important factor in determining how change will affect you. How you think about what is happening to you will determine whether you will use change to your advantage or let it work to your disadvantage.
To succeed in the Communication Age, you must become a “change master.” You have to learn to welcome and embrace change. You must be able to ride the tides of change rather than trying to swim against them. You can do this by taking control of the direction of change in your life and assuring that it is predominantly positive and brings about the improvements you want in your life.
You can greatly increase your stability during these often turbulent times of change by setting goals and then making a detailed written plan to achieve them. Goals enable you to control the direction of change. When you have goals, change becomes planned and deliberate, instead of random and haphazard. Goals assure that the changes that take place in your life are primarily self-determined to be positive and move you toward what you want to achieve, rather than blow you off course.
When you have a clear vision of where you’re going and what you want to accomplish, you develop resilience, which is the ability to bounce back rather than break. You develop a positive attitude and you become the type of person who is resistant to the negative emotions that affect people who do not have goals or any direction in their life.
One of the best ways to deal with change is to simply to accept the change as a reality. Acceptance is the opposite of rejection or resistance. Acceptance keeps your mind calm and positive. The minute you accept that a change has occurred, you immediately become more capable of dealing with the change and turning it to your advantage.
Often, a change signals that your plans are incomplete or that you might be heading in the wrong direction. Serious changes, which seemingly create real problems, are often signals that you are on the wrong track. Instead of resisting change, like a pine tree that snaps in a strong wind, you need to learn to bend with change, like willow tree. Once you learn to do this, you’ll find that change is a healthy and positive step toward achieving your goals.
If you look at any change, you will always find something good and beneficial in it for you. Always look for the valuable lesson that is contained within every change. What is the hidden advantage that you can turn into your benefit? Could this change save you from a much bigger problem in the future? Since you mind can hold only one thought at a time, always force yourself to look for the positive aspect of any change. When you do this, you’ll keep your mind clear, and you’ll keep your attitude optimistic and confident.
Successful men and women are always able to deal effectively in a rapidly changing situation. The higher up you go, the greater your income and responsibilities will be and in turn, the faster change will be all around you. Your ability to function with calmness, clarity, and quiet assurance in every situation will determine your success in times of change more than anything else. If you are going to be successful in the Communication Age, you have to accept change, improve upon it, and then move on to the next situation. As you continue to do this, you will have such a wonderful feeling of self-control and self-determination that your whole life will be bright and positive. The results you can achieve in every area of your life will be unlimited.
Copyright©2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe’s work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace.
Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com
Monday, September 10, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD.......BEING PREPARED MAKES IT EASIER.
Managing Strategic Change - Beat the Odds with the Three R's
By Mark E. Green
According to IBM’s 2006 Global CEO Study, 80% of the 750 top CEOs and business leaders interviewed graded themselves as having been less than "highly successful” at executing strategic change. The issues precipitating change in businesses often include mergers / acquisitions, shifting markets and competitive conditions, stagnant internal culture and attitudes, product / service quality, and rethinking the customer experience.
The hard reality is that humans are creatures of habit, and study after study has demonstrated that we are not effective at changing our thoughts or our behaviors in a sustainable manner. Since organizations are groups of people, they are subject to the same challenges – only magnified by complexity and anything less than exceptional employee engagement. There are countless studies, the IBM survey among them, to illustrate this as well.
Successful strategic change is linked to the ability of those in an organization, as individuals, to change. This is an inconvenient and uncomfortable, but highly useful acknowledgement. It has the power to transform the dialogue – starting at the highest levels - from “We need to change” (translation: “Everybody else needs to change”) to the realization and acceptance that “I need to change.” Once it’s on the table, there’s no escaping it.
Unfortunately, mere realization and acceptance does not make it any easier.
Imagine for a moment that you are lying in a bed, drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. During a lucid moment, a well informed and trusted authority figure leans over you and says “The good news is you’re going to live, but if you don’t make some changes to the way you think, feel, and act – you probably won’t live very long.”
Do you think if you were in that situation you could change?
If you answered “yes,” like most people do, then you are probably deluding yourself. This particular scenario has been scientifically studied. The patients were coronary bypass post-operatives, the authority figures were their surgeons, and the required changes involved diet and exercise. Research has shown that the odds are 9-1 against your ability to change, and this is in a situation where your life is literally on the line! Since life is rarely on the line when we contemplate change in business, it is likely that the odds against its success are even steeper.
In his book “Change or Die,” author Alan Deutschman utilizes this heart patient example and two others - criminals and workers - to illustrate three prerequisites for sustainable change. They are the three R’s – Relate, Repeat, Reframe – and they can help you beat the odds.
Relate
It is critical for individuals facing change to become both overwhelmingly convinced of the need to change and believers that it (and their own personal change) is possible. The emotion of hope plays a significant role in this, as do relationships with people or organizations that inspire and nurture it.
What can you do to more clearly show your people the rationale for change? How can you more effectively tap the emotion of hope to help your employees relate and believe in the possibilities?
Repeat
Like all animals, we learn most effectively through repetition. When there is hope and an understanding of the necessity for change, it becomes easier for us to try new things. Your ability to relate helps you learn, practice, and eventually master the new skills you’ll need. This “training” process will have its share of failures – just think for a moment about how you learned the skill of riding a bicycle! If we don’t fail, we can’t learn. If your organization doesn’t openly encourage failure (and subsequent learning), your employees will never get the chance to practice and become skilled at change.
Is failure punished in your organization or does your culture celebrate failure as a sign of learning and progress? How can you provide your people with more opportunities to practice and learn how to change?
Reframe
The process of learning new thinking and behaviors, almost by definition, alters your frame of reference. This enables you to look at the world in a different way – one that would have been impossible before you changed. When you look at the world in a different way, all sorts of other things change too. Different questions are asked, leading to different answers and to new possibilities. Opportunities seem to appear out of nowhere and solutions to previously insurmountable obstacles suddenly materialize.
What more can you do to create both hope and learning in your organization which will lead to reframing and new thinking?
As with so many things in this world, these concepts are easier to comprehend and discuss than they are to implement. If you permit yourself to think for a moment and reframe that statement, you might begin to see the rough outline of an opportunity. That is, by getting just a little better at implementing change, you’ll be doing far better than most of the pack.
Here are two concrete steps to get started right away:
Align yourself with an outside individual or organization that can inspire hope for change and with whom your team can relate. New relationships are frequently catalysts for productive change.
Allocate funds and time for leadership and key organizational players to become students of change. Allow them to practice new thinking and behaviors by encouraging experimentation and failure. Although the odds seem to be stacked against you, the path to sustainable strategic change is well researched, sufficiently documented, and waiting for you to start your journey. An understanding of the three R’s is the first step. The rest of your trip depends on how you choose to act upon them.
======================================
Since founding Performance Dynamics Group in 2003, Mark Green has spoken to and consulted with thousands of business leaders to help them predictably convert the promise of strategic change into a reality of performance and results. His clients absolutely do not want yet another "flavor of the year" initiative -- they want measurable and sustainable results.
If you feel the same and would like to understand how his speaking and consulting might be just the right fit for your organization, give him a call at 732-537-0381.
To learn more and to subscribe to Mark's free monthly enewsletter, visit him on the web at http://www.performance-dynamics.net
By Mark E. Green
According to IBM’s 2006 Global CEO Study, 80% of the 750 top CEOs and business leaders interviewed graded themselves as having been less than "highly successful” at executing strategic change. The issues precipitating change in businesses often include mergers / acquisitions, shifting markets and competitive conditions, stagnant internal culture and attitudes, product / service quality, and rethinking the customer experience.
The hard reality is that humans are creatures of habit, and study after study has demonstrated that we are not effective at changing our thoughts or our behaviors in a sustainable manner. Since organizations are groups of people, they are subject to the same challenges – only magnified by complexity and anything less than exceptional employee engagement. There are countless studies, the IBM survey among them, to illustrate this as well.
Successful strategic change is linked to the ability of those in an organization, as individuals, to change. This is an inconvenient and uncomfortable, but highly useful acknowledgement. It has the power to transform the dialogue – starting at the highest levels - from “We need to change” (translation: “Everybody else needs to change”) to the realization and acceptance that “I need to change.” Once it’s on the table, there’s no escaping it.
Unfortunately, mere realization and acceptance does not make it any easier.
Imagine for a moment that you are lying in a bed, drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. During a lucid moment, a well informed and trusted authority figure leans over you and says “The good news is you’re going to live, but if you don’t make some changes to the way you think, feel, and act – you probably won’t live very long.”
Do you think if you were in that situation you could change?
If you answered “yes,” like most people do, then you are probably deluding yourself. This particular scenario has been scientifically studied. The patients were coronary bypass post-operatives, the authority figures were their surgeons, and the required changes involved diet and exercise. Research has shown that the odds are 9-1 against your ability to change, and this is in a situation where your life is literally on the line! Since life is rarely on the line when we contemplate change in business, it is likely that the odds against its success are even steeper.
In his book “Change or Die,” author Alan Deutschman utilizes this heart patient example and two others - criminals and workers - to illustrate three prerequisites for sustainable change. They are the three R’s – Relate, Repeat, Reframe – and they can help you beat the odds.
Relate
It is critical for individuals facing change to become both overwhelmingly convinced of the need to change and believers that it (and their own personal change) is possible. The emotion of hope plays a significant role in this, as do relationships with people or organizations that inspire and nurture it.
What can you do to more clearly show your people the rationale for change? How can you more effectively tap the emotion of hope to help your employees relate and believe in the possibilities?
Repeat
Like all animals, we learn most effectively through repetition. When there is hope and an understanding of the necessity for change, it becomes easier for us to try new things. Your ability to relate helps you learn, practice, and eventually master the new skills you’ll need. This “training” process will have its share of failures – just think for a moment about how you learned the skill of riding a bicycle! If we don’t fail, we can’t learn. If your organization doesn’t openly encourage failure (and subsequent learning), your employees will never get the chance to practice and become skilled at change.
Is failure punished in your organization or does your culture celebrate failure as a sign of learning and progress? How can you provide your people with more opportunities to practice and learn how to change?
Reframe
The process of learning new thinking and behaviors, almost by definition, alters your frame of reference. This enables you to look at the world in a different way – one that would have been impossible before you changed. When you look at the world in a different way, all sorts of other things change too. Different questions are asked, leading to different answers and to new possibilities. Opportunities seem to appear out of nowhere and solutions to previously insurmountable obstacles suddenly materialize.
What more can you do to create both hope and learning in your organization which will lead to reframing and new thinking?
As with so many things in this world, these concepts are easier to comprehend and discuss than they are to implement. If you permit yourself to think for a moment and reframe that statement, you might begin to see the rough outline of an opportunity. That is, by getting just a little better at implementing change, you’ll be doing far better than most of the pack.
Here are two concrete steps to get started right away:
Align yourself with an outside individual or organization that can inspire hope for change and with whom your team can relate. New relationships are frequently catalysts for productive change.
Allocate funds and time for leadership and key organizational players to become students of change. Allow them to practice new thinking and behaviors by encouraging experimentation and failure. Although the odds seem to be stacked against you, the path to sustainable strategic change is well researched, sufficiently documented, and waiting for you to start your journey. An understanding of the three R’s is the first step. The rest of your trip depends on how you choose to act upon them.
======================================
Since founding Performance Dynamics Group in 2003, Mark Green has spoken to and consulted with thousands of business leaders to help them predictably convert the promise of strategic change into a reality of performance and results. His clients absolutely do not want yet another "flavor of the year" initiative -- they want measurable and sustainable results.
If you feel the same and would like to understand how his speaking and consulting might be just the right fit for your organization, give him a call at 732-537-0381.
To learn more and to subscribe to Mark's free monthly enewsletter, visit him on the web at http://www.performance-dynamics.net
Sunday, September 09, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD.........BUT YOU MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
How to Become an Active Dreamer........
By Beth Densmore
What is an Active Dreamer? An Active Dreamer is one who does not just wish for change in his or her life, but actually takes action to make his or her dream a reality. We often think, “wouldn’t it be great if”, but then we don’t act to make the great happen. In order to make our dreams a reality we must take action; we must become Active Dreamers.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t dream of having something change for the better in his or her life? I certainly don’t. All of us wish and dream of changing some part of our life to make it better. Some of us dream of having more in our lives: more money, more friends, more business, more focus, more love, more travel, or perhaps, more self-confidence. Some of us dream of having less in our lives: less stress, less fear, less confusion, less worry, less debt.
Most of us can identify with the dream of having more money in our lives and the freedom it would afford us. Few of us, however, consciously put that dream into action. But we can. Let’s look at the steps to becoming an Active Dreamer.
1) Define your dream
If your dream is to have more money, you need to define why you want more money and what you will do with it when you get it. Do you want more money in order to buy an object, create a different lifestyle, clear up debt, travel, etc.? Your dream must be clearly defined if you hope to make it reality.
2) Specify actions you can take
Make a list of the ways you can make more money. Can you be promoted at work, change jobs, get a second job, create a business at which you can work part time, sell something of value, save and/or invest, change spending habits, etc.? Think outside of the box for this step.
3)Identify the obstacles and challenges you will need to overcome
It is important to look realistically at things that will hinder your ability to complete the specific action you have decided upon. Will taking this action create excessive tension in your family, social or professional life? Do you have the time and energy to devote to this action? Can you afford any expense involved? Will you be happy taking this action? Don’t minimize obstacles and challenges, they are real and need to be dealt with now so that they do not become stumbling blocks later.
4) Create a plan
In order to put your dream into action you need to create a detailed plan of action steps. Do you need to talk to your supervisor about promotion opportunities? Do you need to network with others to discover new job opportunities? Do you need to research new business fields? Do you need to consider relocating? Create a step-by-step plan to realize your dream.
5) Create a timetable
Now that you have a plan, you must assign a completion date to each step. When do you want to activate your dream? Can you accomplish all the steps in six months, one year, two years? Once you have the end date, create a timeline for each step. Some steps may take a day or a week to complete others might take months. Be realistic about the time needed to complete each step. If you think step one will take one month to complete, make six weeks your timetable. This will allow for unforeseen interruptions or delays. And just think of the satisfaction you will feel at early completion of the task.
6) Gather support
Remember, “No man is an Island.” To be a successful Active Dreamer, you must have the support of family/friends/coworkers, etc. Make a list of the people you need to support you in achieving your dream. These people might be your spouse, family, friends, supervisors, etc. Then, make a list of people you would like to support you. This list might contain the names of acquaintances, business associates or even people you don’t know personally. By sharing your dream with others you can open the door to opportunities you don’t know exist.
7) Take the first step
You are now ready to take the first step to becoming an Active Dreamer. You can step out boldly because you have already defined your dream, specified the actions to take, identified the obstacles and challenges, created a plan, created a timetable and gathered support. There is nothing stopping you in realizing your dream. Congratulations! You have become an Active Dreamer. Now, GO FOR IT!
About the Author
Beth Densmore is a Personal Life Coach who offers support, inspiration and motivation to those who are in transition and want to achieve a goal. For more information and more free articles like this, visit her site at http://www.newfocuscoaching.com.
By Beth Densmore
What is an Active Dreamer? An Active Dreamer is one who does not just wish for change in his or her life, but actually takes action to make his or her dream a reality. We often think, “wouldn’t it be great if”, but then we don’t act to make the great happen. In order to make our dreams a reality we must take action; we must become Active Dreamers.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t dream of having something change for the better in his or her life? I certainly don’t. All of us wish and dream of changing some part of our life to make it better. Some of us dream of having more in our lives: more money, more friends, more business, more focus, more love, more travel, or perhaps, more self-confidence. Some of us dream of having less in our lives: less stress, less fear, less confusion, less worry, less debt.
Most of us can identify with the dream of having more money in our lives and the freedom it would afford us. Few of us, however, consciously put that dream into action. But we can. Let’s look at the steps to becoming an Active Dreamer.
1) Define your dream
If your dream is to have more money, you need to define why you want more money and what you will do with it when you get it. Do you want more money in order to buy an object, create a different lifestyle, clear up debt, travel, etc.? Your dream must be clearly defined if you hope to make it reality.
2) Specify actions you can take
Make a list of the ways you can make more money. Can you be promoted at work, change jobs, get a second job, create a business at which you can work part time, sell something of value, save and/or invest, change spending habits, etc.? Think outside of the box for this step.
3)Identify the obstacles and challenges you will need to overcome
It is important to look realistically at things that will hinder your ability to complete the specific action you have decided upon. Will taking this action create excessive tension in your family, social or professional life? Do you have the time and energy to devote to this action? Can you afford any expense involved? Will you be happy taking this action? Don’t minimize obstacles and challenges, they are real and need to be dealt with now so that they do not become stumbling blocks later.
4) Create a plan
In order to put your dream into action you need to create a detailed plan of action steps. Do you need to talk to your supervisor about promotion opportunities? Do you need to network with others to discover new job opportunities? Do you need to research new business fields? Do you need to consider relocating? Create a step-by-step plan to realize your dream.
5) Create a timetable
Now that you have a plan, you must assign a completion date to each step. When do you want to activate your dream? Can you accomplish all the steps in six months, one year, two years? Once you have the end date, create a timeline for each step. Some steps may take a day or a week to complete others might take months. Be realistic about the time needed to complete each step. If you think step one will take one month to complete, make six weeks your timetable. This will allow for unforeseen interruptions or delays. And just think of the satisfaction you will feel at early completion of the task.
6) Gather support
Remember, “No man is an Island.” To be a successful Active Dreamer, you must have the support of family/friends/coworkers, etc. Make a list of the people you need to support you in achieving your dream. These people might be your spouse, family, friends, supervisors, etc. Then, make a list of people you would like to support you. This list might contain the names of acquaintances, business associates or even people you don’t know personally. By sharing your dream with others you can open the door to opportunities you don’t know exist.
7) Take the first step
You are now ready to take the first step to becoming an Active Dreamer. You can step out boldly because you have already defined your dream, specified the actions to take, identified the obstacles and challenges, created a plan, created a timetable and gathered support. There is nothing stopping you in realizing your dream. Congratulations! You have become an Active Dreamer. Now, GO FOR IT!
About the Author
Beth Densmore is a Personal Life Coach who offers support, inspiration and motivation to those who are in transition and want to achieve a goal. For more information and more free articles like this, visit her site at http://www.newfocuscoaching.com.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD..........BUT YOU MUST GET TO KNOW THE RULES.
With Corporate Change Every Day Counts - 4 Techniques For Rapid Transformation .............
By Laura Wilcox
If you believe that the market will move so dramatically that you can double your stock portfolio every 90 days, how long will you wait to invest? If you need to purchase a home and knew interest rates are going to be at a low for the next 30 days, how long will you wait to go house hunting? If you know there is a way to transform your organization in 90 days, how long will you wait to move forward?
As individuals we make personal decisions rapidly, but as managers and executives when it comes to corporate change initiatives we take months simply to create a plan. During the time we spend planning to change our competition moves forward, our performance stays flat and our time to ROI increases with every passing day.
Corporate change can be risky business. With industry wide success rates for change initiatives at their historical low of 15%, no wonder we use caution. And with the potential for project failure at an all time high of 85-95%, there seems to be no reason to rush into things.
Change experts have started to look beyond traditional business models to find better ways to change organizations. Their focus is on the new Science of Change which utilizes principles from the hard sciences to speed up the way organizations change. They have discovered that organizations have natural processes they use to change and evolve. They say that when you understand how your organization processes change, what type of changes work best, and how fast your organization can adopt change, you can transform your company rapidly with higher than average success rates.
Here are four techniques your teams can use to rapidly transform your organization and deliver business value. The first step is to acknowledge that you cannot mandate change. It hasn’t worked for the last generation of children and doesn’t work for this generation of employees.
The second step is to recognize that every department in your company has its own culture and its own culture drivers. To change employees, you must determine who and what drives their behavior. Change can be implemented fast when you put employees into situations where they are receptive to change and encouraged to modify their behavior to deliver better business results.
The third step is to identify the culture keepers of each department effected by change. Working with those individuals you can create a solution that allows employees to feel that their culture, the stability of their team, their ability to be recognized, and their personal methods for achieving success are safe.
Traditional Big Bang change, where change agents try to solve multiple problems at the same time, creates Big Time change resistance. So the final step is to break mandated change up into small chunks that can be accomplished in weeks rather than months. This “one piece at a time” approach accomplishes two things. It makes changes at a pace that the human brain is designed to master. Secondly, it allows you to adjust your program when one piece of change doesn’t deliver the results you are looking for.
These four simple techniques can transform your organization in as little as 90 business days. Knowing that change is finally possible, isn’t it time you stopped planning to change and got busy making changes?
Laura Wilcox is Vice President for Change Delivery Group, http://www.changeperfect.com Their proven products deliver rapid business value without culture change resistance by incorporating the new Science of Change. Laura can be contacted at laurawilcox@changeperfect.com
By Laura Wilcox
If you believe that the market will move so dramatically that you can double your stock portfolio every 90 days, how long will you wait to invest? If you need to purchase a home and knew interest rates are going to be at a low for the next 30 days, how long will you wait to go house hunting? If you know there is a way to transform your organization in 90 days, how long will you wait to move forward?
As individuals we make personal decisions rapidly, but as managers and executives when it comes to corporate change initiatives we take months simply to create a plan. During the time we spend planning to change our competition moves forward, our performance stays flat and our time to ROI increases with every passing day.
Corporate change can be risky business. With industry wide success rates for change initiatives at their historical low of 15%, no wonder we use caution. And with the potential for project failure at an all time high of 85-95%, there seems to be no reason to rush into things.
Change experts have started to look beyond traditional business models to find better ways to change organizations. Their focus is on the new Science of Change which utilizes principles from the hard sciences to speed up the way organizations change. They have discovered that organizations have natural processes they use to change and evolve. They say that when you understand how your organization processes change, what type of changes work best, and how fast your organization can adopt change, you can transform your company rapidly with higher than average success rates.
Here are four techniques your teams can use to rapidly transform your organization and deliver business value. The first step is to acknowledge that you cannot mandate change. It hasn’t worked for the last generation of children and doesn’t work for this generation of employees.
The second step is to recognize that every department in your company has its own culture and its own culture drivers. To change employees, you must determine who and what drives their behavior. Change can be implemented fast when you put employees into situations where they are receptive to change and encouraged to modify their behavior to deliver better business results.
The third step is to identify the culture keepers of each department effected by change. Working with those individuals you can create a solution that allows employees to feel that their culture, the stability of their team, their ability to be recognized, and their personal methods for achieving success are safe.
Traditional Big Bang change, where change agents try to solve multiple problems at the same time, creates Big Time change resistance. So the final step is to break mandated change up into small chunks that can be accomplished in weeks rather than months. This “one piece at a time” approach accomplishes two things. It makes changes at a pace that the human brain is designed to master. Secondly, it allows you to adjust your program when one piece of change doesn’t deliver the results you are looking for.
These four simple techniques can transform your organization in as little as 90 business days. Knowing that change is finally possible, isn’t it time you stopped planning to change and got busy making changes?
Laura Wilcox is Vice President for Change Delivery Group, http://www.changeperfect.com Their proven products deliver rapid business value without culture change resistance by incorporating the new Science of Change. Laura can be contacted at laurawilcox@changeperfect.com
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
CHANGE IS GOOD.......IT'S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE
PASSED ON BY GLORIA DITTMAN
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..." "No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.
She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know." As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around whom are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death is those with regrets." She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really enjoy it! These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE. REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get, we make a Life by what we give. God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
"Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there."
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..." "No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.
She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know." As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around whom are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death is those with regrets." She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really enjoy it! These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE. REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get, we make a Life by what we give. God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
"Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there."
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