Do you think that personal change is easy?
We:
- have moments when we wish our lives were easier.
- sometimes struggle with change we would like to see in our lives but can’t seem to make happen.
- are continually exposed to marketing that promises quick and easy solutions to the problems we are experiencing.
If we want to:
- lose weight;
- find the right person for that special relationship;
- be at peace with ourselves;
- become rich;
- give up addictive behavior; or
- make a hundred other common changes
there are tens of thousands of speakers, books, and programs that offer a revolutionary, simple method to cure what ails you.
Just have Jim speak at your event. Buy Sarah’s best-selling book. Or sign up for Esmeralda’s online course. And your problems will be over!
Over and over again we delude ourselves that:
- the next miracle diet we try will be the one that “just works”.
- a new management fad will whip our recalcitrant employees into shape.
- the latest event technology will make our attendees happy, wealthy, and wise.
In reality
In reality, I’ve found that only a tiny fraction of speakers, books, and programs offer real value. I’ve mentioned a few on this blog over the years, including David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Pomodoro, Eric de Groot & Mike van der Vijver’s Into The Heart of Meetings, and a high percentage of Seth Godin’s thoughts and books.
Another barrier to implementing change is that we overlook the months or years of preparatory work we usually need to do before those aha! change moments we remember for the rest of our lives. As Theosophists say: “When the student is ready the teacher will appear” — i.e. the best advice in the world is useless if we are not ready to receive it.
In addition, even when we successfully pan the valuable flecks of gold from mountains of hype, permanently integrating useful desired change invariably requires significant effort.
For example, even after many years of use, my Getting Things Done implementation is imperfect. I flip haphazardly between several trusted systems, depending on the messiness of my desk, my mood, and—for all I know—the phases of the moon. And though, 99% of the time, my email inbox contains well below 100 items, Inbox Zero remains a fantasy, permanently out of reach.
A trap
This leads us to a final trap: the belief that if we don’t implement a personal change perfectly, we haven’t really changed. This is dangerous if we conclude that minor slips mean that we’ve failed to change, and might as well go back to the old way of doing things. Instead, give yourself full credit for the change you’ve fundamentally made, notice when you revert to old patterns, and don’t beat yourself up when it happens (because it nearly always will once in a while.)
Given all these obstacles, it’s a miracle when personal change occurs. And yet, with hard work, it can happen!
Notice when it does. Acknowledge what you’ve done—it was hard!
And celebrate!
Photo attribution: Flickr user tracyshaun