Accept Change as the New Normal

The globalization and interconnection of our world, has seen events outside your markets, industry, career and environment, have a significant impact on you, your business and the way you do things in your world. Whatever market you work in, it is impossible to remain successful, unless you keep your eye on the broader context of what is going on all around you in terms of technological, social, political and on-going economic change. Any sort of sustained success today, depends on keeping your eye on the world and becoming an active observer of any trends or changes all around you. This proactive stance toward change will equip you to innovate, respond to changes timeously and avoid any potential new pitfalls or challenges, which will inevitably cross your path.

I want to dispel two cliches “Ignorance is most certainly not bliss” in the new ever changing world we live in today; ignorance is failure, bankruptcy or disaster and “what you don’t know will most certainly hurt you”. Ignore the Nay Sayers all around you, who tell you that it doesn’t matter, whether you know or not, as there is nothing you can do about it anyway. This philosophy of putting on a pair of blinkers or burying your head in the sand, will just lead to disaster. Yes, the pace of change has accelerated and the new world requires a very different approach to the one we have left behind forever.

How does this short extract from a newspaper, make you feel about change, it reads as follows, “The world is too big for us. Too much going on, too much crime, violence and change. Try as you will, you get behind in the race. It’s an incessant strain to keep pace and still you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. Everything in business and life is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more!” How about if I told you that this was an extract from an article published in “The Atlantic Journal in 1833”, would you agree that change has been around forever and that although the pace of change has certainly accelerated, our perception of it has not.

This new normal asks us to be aware, observe trends, be on the lookout for changes, but oh my goodness, offers us so many new opportunities, which we can take advantage of every day. When you stop looking at change as your enemy and learn to embrace it as your new ally and the bearer of a myriad of new opportunities, you empower yourself to become a champion of change. You actually get to expect anticipate and welcome change, seeing it as the bearer of wonderful new opportunities. Change is here to stay and is the new normal. You can choose to ignore it, at your own peril or you can choose to embrace and use it as a powerful tool in your success toolbox.

If you want to avoid being left behind, licking your wounds, trying to just get through all the change, which is all around you? You will live a very stressful life and feel like you are spinning your wheels every day, just trying to keep up. If on the other hand you expect, plan for and are always on the lookout for change, you will see change completely differently and will find ways to always get something from, all the change you will see and experience.

Action Idea: Don’t sit around waiting for change to randomly affect you, your business or your financial position. Become proactive and develop a daily routine, which will help you to actively explore your environment and discover any changing trends or new opportunities. Take off the lenses of overwhelm and replace them with a more rosy colored ones, which will allow you to see opportunities, rather than random just changes, over which you have no control.

Taking advantage of any new trends or changes in your environment requires you to be aware and up to speed, with what is going on all around you. Pay attention to everything going on in your world and be on the lookout for any early warning signs of impending change. You can never take advantage of any changes or trends, unless you are aware of them. You can only become innovative, creative and turn change into opportunity, if you are well informed and your information is up to date and reliable.

The way to turn change into profit and to exploit the opportunities offered by any change, is to open your mind, innovate and find ways to solve challenges better than anyone else around you. We do indeed live in very exciting times, you can either choose to embrace the change all around and prosper or you can choose to allow it to overwhelm you and stress you out. You can’t get rid of change; it won’t go away any time soon.

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