Factors You Must Overcome to Effect Change in Your Life
Change.
It's the only constant in life. Change is what drives everything. Even in death, there is change...with slow change of your physical composition into something else that you will be into eternity. To change you start with something...perform an action on it...and end up with something different.
Ideally, as an entrepreneur, you use change as the way you can advance yourself. To advance your business, ideas, career. You cannot be an entrepreneur without embracing change. But...
Change isn't easy.
Even the change that we want to achieve is rarely easy. Why? Because there are three attributes to change that can hold us back. Constant psychologic roadblocks that work against us changing. Holding us back from changing. Sometimes that's a good thing to be held back from change...but other times it holds us back from enacting the change that can help us achieve more and make our lives better.
We don't always know which change will be positive...and which will be negative. That's the nature of change. There are no guarantees on how the change will work out.
The First Factor - Giving Up What You Have
We know the way things are right now. Perhaps we like the way things are, maybe not. But most certainly we are looking to change for something better than what we have. One of the scary things about change is that we must leave behind the security and safety of what we know. And the power that status quo has on us is enormous. To leave it behind, looking to achieve something better, can be very difficult. It's a very heavy anchor that hinders you from initiating change.
Perhaps you have a well paying position with many benefits, but the position stinks. (I am sure there are a few of you out there...). You don't like the work. You don't see any potential. You really want to do something else - Your dream. So why do you stay in that position? It's probably your fear of giving up what you have. Giving up what you know. The "safety and security" of what you already have. We have all heard someone say:
It's better to live with the devil you know, than the one you don't know.
Well, that may be true to a point, but is that how you want to live your life? Is settling for what you have, better than striving for what you really want? I believe that to be a successful entrepreneurial and change agent you need your inner psyche to say:
What I am looking to achieve is far better than that what I am willing to leave behind.
To start down the pathway of meaningful change, you first have to accept that you will leave behind the status quo. You will leave behind what you know and head into the future, looking to achieve something new and better than what you have left behind, without a guarantee. It can be uncomfortable and unnerving, but it is an essential step of successful change. Leave behind the status quo.
To overcome this first roadblock you must change the balance of influence between what you want and what you are leaving behind. The desire for the new state must be greater than your reluctance to give up what you have.
And then it's up to you to to enact the process to achieve it. Which brings us to the second factor...
The Second Factor - Making The Change
To make meaningful change requires more than just wishing it. YOU have to make it happen. When change is designed and initiated by you, it's you that remains in charge to create the plan, take the actions, set the direction, continue the momentum and bring it to conclusion. YOU are responsible.
This is what holds many people back. Despite the fact that they may want to leave something behind (factor 1), they don't have the confidence in their ability to fully enact the change. Perhaps they are worried about their ability to design the plan. Maybe to carry out the plan. Or the inability to bring it to successful conclusion. They lack the confidence to say:
I will leave behind what I have, to attain what I want, and I will rely on my own abilities to achieve it.
Successful entrepreneurs have the confidence in their skills and abilities to take that leap of faith. To forge forward into the unknown, knowing that what they knew before will be left behind, and they will achieve a new state. And they have the courage to do this, despite there is no guarantee that they will achieve their intended goal. But they have confidence in their ability to achieve something better than their current state...and so they initiate that change. They believe in their ability to achieve their dream. They believe in their selves.
To overcome this second roadblock you must have the confidence of your abilities, resources and perseverance to achieve the goals and results that you are looking for.
The Third Factor - Anticipating The Result
Why should the result that you are changing to be a factor that could hold you back? After all, isn't that why you want to change?
Yes, but at some level of subconsciousness you might be thinking to yourself...
What happens if what I achieve... doesn't turn out to be what I imagined it would be?
We have all been there. You want something. You want it badly. You are wiling to do just about anything to get it, yet when you do get it...it's not up to your expectation, or worse yet...it's a massive disappointment. The movie you longed to see...was a dud. That great looking desert...didn't taste nearly as good as it looked. That new tool that you knew would help you do something better..didn't make any difference. That person you just had to meet...turned out to be a self-centered boor.
And for everyone, in business and our personals lives, this fear of disappointment of a result can paralyze you and stop meaningful change from happening. Deep inside you know that your result won't be exactly what you imagine it will be. In business, successful entrepreneurs are willing to achieve change that they feel confident will provide them with reward and not disappointment. Even if outcomes are not as they were perceived, the changes are still positive and worthy of the effort and sacrifices that were taken to achieve them. They have confidence that the outcome will be better than what they gave up, even if it isn't exactly what they imagined.
To overcome this third roadblock you must set a realistic expectation of the outcome that you are looking to achieve and understand and accept that your perception of the result and reality of the outcome are unlikely to be the same.
Putting it all together
It is often easier to not do anything and maintain our status quo in life. However success and achievement was never obtained with that attitude. This is not to say that we should not be appreciative of what we have (that is a key element of peace within ourselves) , but the inner psychology of those who look to achieve is not that of mere acceptance.
Successful people look for challenges to build, learn, work, cooperate, sacrifice and strive for. It's what makes a successful entrepreneur. They may be happy with what they have, but look to a greater level of personal and professional achievement and challenge. They are willing to overcome these three block to meaningful change and have the confidence in their abilities.
They are willing to risk what they currently have for the chance of achieving something better
They are willing to do the work that will help them achieve that meaningful change and accept the risk that their work may not be successful
They are willing to accept the outcome and result that comes from change, even if there is no guarantee it is what they thought it was
Last, ponder this thought...
If everything is always changing...then is the decision to NOT change, actually a form of change?
Change is the only constant. It will occur regardless of what we do or don't do. For us to make a conscious decision to change is not really a decision of doing something versus doing nothing, but rather a decision to follow a different path of change than the one we are on.
Knowing this, the decision to leave something behind; work on something new and make a conscious decision on an outcome we wish to achieve is perhaps better described as exercising our ability to direct the change in our lives rather than the initiation of change.
Please share your thoughts below. What holds YOU back from change? What do you do to help you initiate change in your life?
If you like this article...please click the "like" button and share it with others.
Written by Stephen G. Ruby
It's the only constant in life. Change is what drives everything. Even in death, there is change...with slow change of your physical composition into something else that you will be into eternity. To change you start with something...perform an action on it...and end up with something different.
Ideally, as an entrepreneur, you use change as the way you can advance yourself. To advance your business, ideas, career. You cannot be an entrepreneur without embracing change. But...
Change isn't easy.
Even the change that we want to achieve is rarely easy. Why? Because there are three attributes to change that can hold us back. Constant psychologic roadblocks that work against us changing. Holding us back from changing. Sometimes that's a good thing to be held back from change...but other times it holds us back from enacting the change that can help us achieve more and make our lives better.
We don't always know which change will be positive...and which will be negative. That's the nature of change. There are no guarantees on how the change will work out.
The First Factor - Giving Up What You Have
We know the way things are right now. Perhaps we like the way things are, maybe not. But most certainly we are looking to change for something better than what we have. One of the scary things about change is that we must leave behind the security and safety of what we know. And the power that status quo has on us is enormous. To leave it behind, looking to achieve something better, can be very difficult. It's a very heavy anchor that hinders you from initiating change.
Perhaps you have a well paying position with many benefits, but the position stinks. (I am sure there are a few of you out there...). You don't like the work. You don't see any potential. You really want to do something else - Your dream. So why do you stay in that position? It's probably your fear of giving up what you have. Giving up what you know. The "safety and security" of what you already have. We have all heard someone say:
It's better to live with the devil you know, than the one you don't know.
Well, that may be true to a point, but is that how you want to live your life? Is settling for what you have, better than striving for what you really want? I believe that to be a successful entrepreneurial and change agent you need your inner psyche to say:
What I am looking to achieve is far better than that what I am willing to leave behind.
To start down the pathway of meaningful change, you first have to accept that you will leave behind the status quo. You will leave behind what you know and head into the future, looking to achieve something new and better than what you have left behind, without a guarantee. It can be uncomfortable and unnerving, but it is an essential step of successful change. Leave behind the status quo.
To overcome this first roadblock you must change the balance of influence between what you want and what you are leaving behind. The desire for the new state must be greater than your reluctance to give up what you have.
And then it's up to you to to enact the process to achieve it. Which brings us to the second factor...
The Second Factor - Making The Change
To make meaningful change requires more than just wishing it. YOU have to make it happen. When change is designed and initiated by you, it's you that remains in charge to create the plan, take the actions, set the direction, continue the momentum and bring it to conclusion. YOU are responsible.
This is what holds many people back. Despite the fact that they may want to leave something behind (factor 1), they don't have the confidence in their ability to fully enact the change. Perhaps they are worried about their ability to design the plan. Maybe to carry out the plan. Or the inability to bring it to successful conclusion. They lack the confidence to say:
I will leave behind what I have, to attain what I want, and I will rely on my own abilities to achieve it.
Successful entrepreneurs have the confidence in their skills and abilities to take that leap of faith. To forge forward into the unknown, knowing that what they knew before will be left behind, and they will achieve a new state. And they have the courage to do this, despite there is no guarantee that they will achieve their intended goal. But they have confidence in their ability to achieve something better than their current state...and so they initiate that change. They believe in their ability to achieve their dream. They believe in their selves.
To overcome this second roadblock you must have the confidence of your abilities, resources and perseverance to achieve the goals and results that you are looking for.
The Third Factor - Anticipating The Result
Why should the result that you are changing to be a factor that could hold you back? After all, isn't that why you want to change?
Yes, but at some level of subconsciousness you might be thinking to yourself...
What happens if what I achieve... doesn't turn out to be what I imagined it would be?
We have all been there. You want something. You want it badly. You are wiling to do just about anything to get it, yet when you do get it...it's not up to your expectation, or worse yet...it's a massive disappointment. The movie you longed to see...was a dud. That great looking desert...didn't taste nearly as good as it looked. That new tool that you knew would help you do something better..didn't make any difference. That person you just had to meet...turned out to be a self-centered boor.
And for everyone, in business and our personals lives, this fear of disappointment of a result can paralyze you and stop meaningful change from happening. Deep inside you know that your result won't be exactly what you imagine it will be. In business, successful entrepreneurs are willing to achieve change that they feel confident will provide them with reward and not disappointment. Even if outcomes are not as they were perceived, the changes are still positive and worthy of the effort and sacrifices that were taken to achieve them. They have confidence that the outcome will be better than what they gave up, even if it isn't exactly what they imagined.
To overcome this third roadblock you must set a realistic expectation of the outcome that you are looking to achieve and understand and accept that your perception of the result and reality of the outcome are unlikely to be the same.
Putting it all together
It is often easier to not do anything and maintain our status quo in life. However success and achievement was never obtained with that attitude. This is not to say that we should not be appreciative of what we have (that is a key element of peace within ourselves) , but the inner psychology of those who look to achieve is not that of mere acceptance.
Successful people look for challenges to build, learn, work, cooperate, sacrifice and strive for. It's what makes a successful entrepreneur. They may be happy with what they have, but look to a greater level of personal and professional achievement and challenge. They are willing to overcome these three block to meaningful change and have the confidence in their abilities.
They are willing to risk what they currently have for the chance of achieving something better
They are willing to do the work that will help them achieve that meaningful change and accept the risk that their work may not be successful
They are willing to accept the outcome and result that comes from change, even if there is no guarantee it is what they thought it was
Last, ponder this thought...
If everything is always changing...then is the decision to NOT change, actually a form of change?
Change is the only constant. It will occur regardless of what we do or don't do. For us to make a conscious decision to change is not really a decision of doing something versus doing nothing, but rather a decision to follow a different path of change than the one we are on.
Knowing this, the decision to leave something behind; work on something new and make a conscious decision on an outcome we wish to achieve is perhaps better described as exercising our ability to direct the change in our lives rather than the initiation of change.
Please share your thoughts below. What holds YOU back from change? What do you do to help you initiate change in your life?
If you like this article...please click the "like" button and share it with others.
Written by Stephen G. Ruby
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