The Change Formula

For some reason it seems that most people resist change.  We worry that change will lead to the loss of things we enjoy and value.  Rarely, do we envision change as leading to an even better and more successful life.

Research has consistently shown that people who are laid off from their job quite often land a better job than the one they left.  But, who do you know who looks forward to being laid off?

There are two levers that can overcome our natural resistance to change.  The first is distress.  This is by far the one that is most commonly used.  We wait until things get so bad that we feel forced to make a needed change.  People endure very bad relationships until circumstances spin so out of hand that something must be done.  It might take being punched or someone gambling away all of the money before you are willing to change.

A far healthier lever is vision.  If you can envision a preferred state, you can create enough energy and momentum to overcome your natural resistance. Consider the young girl who watches Lindsey Vonn speeding down the women’s downhill and then standing on the winner’s platform to receive a gold medal.  That young girl says to herself, “One day that will be me.”  That vision motivates her to buy a poster of Lindsey and tape it to the ceiling above her bed.  Every night she goes to sleep seeing herself on that platform.  It motivates her to take ski lessons, to work out in the gym and to hire a coach.  She is changing because she sees where she wants to go and who she wants to be.

Most of us could do a better job of feeding our dreams. We need to dream big dreams if we are going to have a big life.