“Achieving something that’s never been done before starts with challenging yourself to do things that you’ve never done before.” – Melinda Gates
Here’s the least original statement of the year: We live in a world of rapid change. Everything around us seems to be moving. Very little seems stable or dependable. And as human beings, that can be a little unnerving.
Part of the problem with change is that we’ve convinced ourselves that we can’t do it. That it’s some kind of voodoo and only certain kinds of people (not us) are able to do it well. That whatever change we try & make will probably fail or at least make us miserable. In other words, we’ve talked ourselves into failure before we’ve ever started.
If you’re going to be good at making change, and any organization that wants to survive has to be, then one thing you need is a positive perspective on change. Whenever you’re faced with a barrier that’s going to require you or your organization to change, you have to legitimately believe that you’re going to do it and do it well.
Part of believing that you’ll succeed is embracing things you haven’t done before. We all get way too comfortable doing some things we like or come easy for us or that we’ve known how to do for years. This is especially true for people who have been around for a long time. People like to complain these days about millennials, but my experience is that there are just as many baby boomers out there who refuse to tackle new things that have to be done as there are millennials with a lousy work ethic.
You have to try new things. You have to believe that those new things will be a success. Someone told me not long ago that whenever they’re faced with needing to try something new, they tell themselves “Congratulations! Today you get to learn how to dominate the world in a different way!” That maybe sounds cheesy, but it’s the attitude you have to have.
As a leader, if you don’t embrace change and trying new things, can you really expect anybody else to do it? Your attitude and belief about change will be contagious, whether you want it to be or not. So make a decision about how you’re going to approach change. Are you going to talk yourself out of it before you start? Or will you look at it as a new way to dominate the world? The choice will determine the outcome, and that choice is entirely yours.
Very good insights Matt.