We all have stories about how hard it is to change. Why do we dislike change so much? Because doing things in the same way (read same old, same old) eliminates the need for thinking.
Thinking is hard. And thinking fresh ideas to pull you forward is really hard. Or, is it?

A few ideas that support easier, more natural change:

• Assume that next year is going to be 10x more enjoyable than this year (You have to have a premise).

• Realize that each new opportunity grows from what you now have. Embrace what you now have.

• Understand that change requires you to “give up” what you have for what you want. This means you can’t decide to change X and not change yourself.

• If you have done the same things for 2 years or more and conditions have not changed, chances are high that you should throw that method away and replace it. Start over.

• Be OK with “giving up” what is not working before the replacement has arrived.

Here is the hard part:

Decide what you want. Think ahead three years. Build some excitement, passion and interest in that three-year view. The level of your mental energy is the core element that makes change more natural and easy to accomplish.
No energy for the future means that change is not worth it. If you have lots of energy for your future, and change is easy – very easy.

The point:

Once you know where you want to be in say, three years, the changes needed to get there will come along almost by themselves and in the right order.
When you accept that your decision for improvement (whatever it is you want) is 100% correct for you, you open the door for great changes. In essence, you allow change to happen by itself because of and in line with where you want to go.

Knowing what you want is the number 1 reason that change can be easier

Cheers,

Richard L Reardon

For years, our sales team was required to make predictions on the success for major sales initiatives.  Everyone had to briefly describe what the sales action was intended to accomplish and the reasoning behind the idea in the first place.  Then they would write their prediction and opinion of the intended action.

The fun came when we would compare actual results with the predictions.

What was the point?  There were three key points:

1. No one could claim they didn’t understand the sales actions needed.
2. Every one took part in anticipating good results.
3. When the actual results were known, we could all figure out where we needed to improve.

Lesson learned system:

Imagine having your own personal “lessons learned” folder going back over the past twelve months.  If you want change or growth, this type of record is priceless.   Not knowing the recent lessons learned leaves you at the same place you are now.

Most of us do not remember what we learned even last week.   Ask people, “What did you learn last week?”  They will not know what you mean and cannot provide a very good answer.  We are all busy- too busy to learn.

Do this: 

Examine your major desires and record your predictions ahead of time (only the areas important to you current plan of development).

Week-by-week record what actually happened and compare that to your prediction.

Decide where you were “on” and where you were “off”.  Most importantly, record the lesson learned.

A personal gold mine:

Write these lessons down, capture what they tell you, and by year end you will have a gold mine full of nuggets for your growth. Realize that you only record lessons in areas important to your major plan.

Try this on yourself.  Think of the actions you are up to and predict the outcome.  I predict you will not only enjoy it, but will learn a lot about yourself and what is behind your current pace/progress.

Cheers,

Richard Reardon