Viewpoints Newsletter Number 9 from Infinite Perspectives

Viewpoints - a Newsletter from INFINITE PERSPECTIVES Coaching & Consulting
April 2005	Volume 2, Number 4
Judging from my sneezes and watery eyes, springtime has finally arrived around here. New green leaves are filling out on the trees, and the butterflies and bees are beginning to find the blossoms. The days are longer, and the nights are warmer. Change is in the air, and we welcome the changes that springtime brings to our lives. Yet, in other ways, we often find ourselves being resistant to change. In this issue, we’ll explore a few thoughts and ideas on resisting – and embracing – change. We hope you find this newsletter interesting and useful. Each month, we feature an overview of a different topic, some food for thought, and a smile or two. Enjoy! and please invite others to join the Viewpoints subscription list – it’s an opt-in list on our website: www.infiniteperspectives.com . Warmest Regards, Charles (Charlie) Boyer Infinite Perspectives, LLC www.infiniteperspectives.com RESISTING CHANGE. We know – deep down inside – that change is the only constant, yet we try to make our world one that doesn’t change. The more things change, the more we want things to stay the same. Why do we resist change? We feel secure when things stay the same We feel threatened by change We fear the unknown It’s easier to be stuck in a rut Now, that last point hurts! But it’s true for many of us, isn’t it? Some people make great efforts to resist change – they don’t want to admit to more than 39 years; they worry about letting go when it’s time for the kids to go to college; they eat the same thing for breakfast every day. I once took a class from a college professor who seemed to have only three outfits – a green one for Monday, a brown one for Wednesday, and a purple one for Friday – and they were identical styles! Different colors, but otherwise the same dress. I guess it was easier not to worry about making other choices. Why is it so hard for us to make changes? There must be a lot of reasons. I went to Google and typed in “making changes” and got 18 MILLION hits! Now that says something about how much we tend to be stick-in-the-mud people. John Gardner speaks of people – and organizations – that become so resistant to change that they become “prisoners of their procedures.” Stephen Covey, author of First Things First, writes: “We don’t have confidence in other alternatives. Or we feel the cost of change is too high. Or we’re afraid to try. It’s easier to just live with the imbalance.” In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins described the need to make a personnel change, but observed: “To save ourselves stress and discomfort, we wait. And wait. And wait.” ACCEPTING CHANGE: Well, you have two basic choices to make: Stop the world, I want to get off. Welcome the future and the changes it is sure to bring. If you subscribe to #1, you don’t accept change, you run from it! You are the ultimate status quo person, the one who says “Don’t confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up.” If you are on team #2, you not only welcome what’s ahead, but believe you have a hand in shaping that future. John Gardner refers to this quality as the capacity to find order in experience, ascribed to highly creative individuals, who demonstrate “confidence, a sense of destiny, and faith in their capacity to do the things they want and need to do…” WELCOMING CHANGE: Creative people, leaders, the mover-and-shaker types, all welcome change because they see changes not as threats but as opportunities. Remember the turtle? He doesn’t get anywhere until he sticks his neck out. Loehr & Schwartz describe the process of making changes that endure as a 3-step process involving Purpose – Truth – Action. Define Purpose - we need inspiration to make changes in our lives Face the Truth – honestly and truthfully take an inventory of how you manage your energy emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Take Action – to close the gap between who you are now and who you want to be. John Kotter, author of Leading Change, says that successful change is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 20 percent management. Yet many organizations (because people run them) resist change. He suggests that effective change requires an orientation toward the future, clear articulation of a realistic set of possibilities, and flexibility in choosing courses of action. YOUR CHALLENGE: Change something this week, just for the sheer terror of doing something totally different! Do the wash on Tuesday rather than Monday. Wear the blue shirt on Monday rather than Tuesday. Order veggies rather than French fries at lunch. Read the last page of the newspaper first. Be a turtle – stick your neck out! Whatever it takes, change something – and notice how you energized you feel about making a change in your life! Keep going – it can really make a big difference! POINTS TO PONDER . . . It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. (W. Edwards Deming) They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. (Andy Warhol) Change your thoughts and you change your world. (Norman Vincent Peale) Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. (Carol Burnett) RESOURCES: Here are several good resources that may help you discover why you are resisting change, and help you learn to embrace the changes that are a part of living. Bridges, William. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7382-0824-8. Collins, Jim. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-06-662099-6. Covey, Stephen, Merrill, A. Roger, and Merrill, Rebecca R. First Things First. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN 0-684-80203-1. Gardner, John W. Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995. ISBN 0-393-31295-X. Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996. ISBN 0-87584-747-1. Kyle, Mackenzie. Making It Happen. Ontario: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. ISBN 0-471-64234-7. Loehr, Jim and Schwartz, Tony. The Power of Full Engagement. New York: Free Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7432-2674-7. NEXT ISSUE: PROCRASTINATION. “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” “Manana.” “I’ll get around to it.” “Later!” Do any of these sound familiar to you? Next month, we’ll take a look at the art of procrastination, what it is really costing you, and some ways to change your “do-it-later” voice to “do-it-now!” *Infinite Perspectives, LLC* provides coach-based consulting to business and educational leaders who want to create programs of excellence, to individuals facing major changes in their lives (Retirement, Relocation, Restart), and to those who are hitting walls of resistance and want to find windows of opportunity. Visit us at www.infiniteperspectives.com to discover how coach-based consulting can help you make a difference. VIEWPOINTS will no longer be sent to subscribers via e-mail. We value your privacy and do not share your email address with anyone. However, we have continued to experience some problems with spam filters and intercepted e-mails that aren’t helpful in getting this Newsletter to subscribers. Each month, you will receive an e-mail message with a website link to the latest issue of VIEWPOINTS.
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