THERE’s literally no escaping change, is there?
Whether your job is no longer available, or consumer trends in your business sector shifts, or you experience a personal loss, or your relationship with someone close has soured; as much as you try avoiding it, change seems to be the one constant in life.
Yet, nearly everyone struggles to manage it.
In fact many people look at change only as having a negative bearing on life.
More often than not, the word change is used in a threatening manner.
“If you don’t do things better, I am going to make some big changes here…” I just said this to one my team members recently.
One of my coachees got told a few days ago, “You better change your attitude because you are making it impossible for the company to extend your contract…”
So even the word “change” conjures up terrifying images of losing control or something valuable.
However, the reality is it’s entirely up to you to choose how you view change. Even when it seems tough, you are learning and growing as a person. Remind yourself that without change, things will stay the same, and will ultimately wither away.
For example, this Saturday, 7th September will be the final service at my neighbourhood bistro – D’Legends TTDI. After owning it for 4 years, I have made the decision that I must change and upgrade the business if I want to enjoy continued growth.
We are closing for 2 months to refurbish, rejuvenate, and rebrand the business, and the new business will open in November 2019.
Was it a hard decision? Of course, it was terribly hard.
Together with my team, I have transformed this once largely unappealing watering hole into a welcoming neighbourhood bistro that attracts millennials, families, business owners, politicos, media people, and so on. There’s a value proposition for everyone.
Over the past week as I have been informing our regulars, I’ve felt so much nostalgia and there have been moments where I have questioned the wisdom of doing this.
Although I know that its success rests on the collective shoulders of me and my team, I cannot say for sure that the new renovated and modernized business will be received as well as my current place is.
Only time, with our effort and energy will tell.
But each time I think about it, I know I have made the right decision, because without change there is no exploration in life. Change is also about learning, and learning is a pre-requisite for growing.
The most successful people I know always take advantage of the fact that most people resist change. They seize opportunities that others simply are afraid to venture into.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī or simply known popularly as Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet and Islamic scholar is reported to have said, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself”.
If you are interested in your personal and career growth with better results, remember that embracing change is not a difficult skill to learn. And once you start looking at change as empowering, rather than something to steer clear of, you will be astounded at the results you produce.
When you start accepting change as something positive, the first transformation that happens is that you get forced out of your comfort zone.
The reason why everyone loves the comfort zone is just because it is easy. You can just follow a routine and you can predict its outcome. This gives you tremendous security.
Once you get out of this area, your personal rulebook gets challenged. Your ideas, mentality, and belief systems get tested, so you have to find newer and better ways to operate.
Embracing change also allows you to experience more.
As I start the process of rebranding my restaurant, I am seeing new perspectives, from design styles to food trends and demographic analytics. Ironically, these angles were right in front of me all the time.
But because I had no desire to change my business before, I just could not see these opportunities.
When I think about my own life, I know that all the notable things I have seen and done only happened because I became open to new experiences. All my vacations, meeting people, and experimenting with businesses taught me more than I ever learned at school or university.
Most importantly, being able to accept change makes you flexible and increases your ability to adapt to the dynamism of your career, and the world at large.
As you develop an attitude that allows you to deal with confusion and disorder, you also learn to be agile and nimble. People fail when they cannot manage unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations.
You will only begin to thrive in new situations because you have proven to yourself that you can cope deftly in an ever-changing landscape.
Ultimately, change is good!
If you are so inclined, come and say goodbye to D’Legends in TTDI this Saturday.