A Time to Change

One of the biggest challenges in life is our battle with self.  There are many things that each of us is naturally inclined to do that essentially sabotages our success and happiness in life.  I experienced this first hand this week as I traveled for work.  We purchased a new a business and presented a great opportunity to the current operator to continue running the business.  It was an offer that was much more attractive than what he currently had in many different ways and one most people would not be able to resist, yet it required him to change and view the business differently.  And changing was not something he was willing to do. 

Now I couldn’t blame this person, in fact, I could identify with him almost too much so that it scared me.  For some reason (especially I’ve found as I get older) our resistance to change intensifies and we no longer choose to do things that would eventually help our ultimate success in life.  Rather than changing we essentially choose to be stuck, unhappy, and eventually unsuccessful—or at least not as successful as we could have been.  We almost convince ourselves we “can’t” change or that change is “not necessary” when it clearly is.    

We need to recognize and fight this resistance to change because one thing that is certain in life is change.  For this reason we need to embrace it and be ready for it.  Change can produce so much good if we allow it to.  Even though it is hard, it almost always makes us better people.  And with the right attitude, it can nearly almost always end up helping us in life.  Change is good. 

Now, it breaks my heart that this current operator will lose what I see as an opportunity of a lifetime because of his unwillingness to change.  It makes me think about what I may be missing out on when I refuse to change.  We must embrace change, have a great attitude about it, and do all we can to learn and grow from it.  When we do, we will become much better leaders and much happier people in life.