This is part one of a four-part blog series that I will be sharing over the next few weeks. Each of the blogs will dive into what we consider to be the three approaches needed to manage change and grow – and they are some of the greatest mountains that we face. And, as change is one of the few guarantees that we have in life, learning to effectively manage change is of the utmost importance for success. And to make decisions and take actions that work towards becoming your highest self and climbing to your highest peaks is of the utmost importance for achieving happiness and fulfilment. So, lace up your boots. Here we go.
Surprisingly, not only did I learn to use fountain pens which I had to fill with this messy blue ink … but also, I was required to do arithmetic problems with an ink pen as well. I was nine years old when our family moved to Uganda from Miami, Florida. And learning to deal with fountain pens was only the beginning of the rapid changes that I had to make to adapt and survive in a new environment.
Adapting to today’s rapidly changing world has created a tremendous amount of stress for all age groups across all parts of our society. We have had circumstances that look and feel as strange as this bottle of Quink did to me the first time I saw it. But change is not something to fear. As much as it brings challenges and insecurity, it also provides you with opportunities for growth. In case you did not know, fountain pens (once you get used to them) write beautifully!
We continue to move in uncharted territory and too many of us lack the guidance we need to navigate our way through it all. And it’s particularly challenging when the need to adapt happens on multiple fronts at the same time – and when the expectation is that you will do what needs to be done, quickly and without expressing any overt frustrations you may have around change.
The skills needed to adapt to change are far-reaching and easily missed – all too often we believe the answers to our most challenging problems lie outside our own capabilities. We look for some one-sided theoretical or analytical approach to accomplish our needs and wants. But it takes a three-pronged approach to adapt to changing environments and to achieve success.
Over the next three weeks, we will explore what this journey entails and how three basic approaches, used synergistically, can help create the realities we desire in both our professional and personal lives.
There’s no time like now to crack the codes of change.
In the fourth and final follow-up video in the series, get practical tools to prepare yourself for the change(s) that come across your path AND those that you choose – those designed by you to improve your life.
