I have a confession to make. I am old enough to remember rotary phones and black and white TV without cable, satellite or remote controls. I grew up in a house without central air conditioning and the first several cars I owned ran on leaded gasoline. As I look back its fun to remember those things but I certainly don’t spend any time or effort trying to relive those times with those circumstances. Times have changed and so have I. For you to change, you must first let go.
Nature loathes a vacuum. As soon as space is created it is quickly refilled. The same is true in your life. For you to grow and to gain you must first be willing to create space by giving something up. In the examples of yesteryear I gave above, I gave up those things through the force of the marketplace. Don’t wait for the force of the marketplace to make your changes. Most of the time if you are forced to make changes you will be too far behind the curve.
The Law of Familiarity states that you tend to follow what you are most familiar with. Change is not your natural choice even though change is a constant force. You will make excuses for the status quo. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the most common phrase for excuse. In today’s marketplace, it may not be broke, but it probably is obsolete and ineffective.
The first step to change is to grow your change muscle. Start educating yourself daily to developing trends. Pay attention to the emotions and wants of the masses. The great hockey player, Wayne Gretzky said “I go to where the puck is going to be, not to where it is already.” Your job is to always be watching and asking the strategic question “What’s next?”
Don’t worry about being right or wrong or you will never change. The fact is that you will be wrong more than you will be right. Being wrong will create a path to getting it right. Staying put is no longer an option. Status quo is no longer safe and has now become a death sentence. The only thing you don’t know about status quo is your exact time of death. It could be swift or it could be long and painful. The world and the marketplace are changing at a faster rate than ever before. Change and information sharing is now instantaneous.
You spend most of your day executing the model and processes you have become accustomed to. I would invite you begin spending 20% of your day changing those things or at least investigating possible changes. No matter what you do, your toughest challenge will be just letting go. When you cling to your current status quo, it becomes a security blanket that provides you feelings of comfort and security. You must be willing to grow up every day and let go of your security blankets.