Let me take a moment to summarize the main point of thousands of leadership, self-help, dieting, marriage, parenting and tons of other books that span literally millions of pages. Just about all of them can be boiled down to one big thing: changing your mindset from “I’ve always done it that way” to “I’m willing to try something different.” In other words, those books are all about making a positive change.
I know I’m usually pretty pointed when I write articles for you guys, but today I want to do a bit of rambling on the topic of change and the decision of whether or not to change. What prompts me to write about that? In short, Stacy and I are going through so many life changes right now that we’re having a hard time keeping up! I also talk with people nearly every day who struggle to make a change because they are paralyzed by the unknown. More accurately, they are paralyzed by their FEAR of the unknown. They ask questions like, “what happens if I can’t find a job by the end of the month when our savings runs out?” or, “which college should I attend?” and expect me to give them the answer. Those are pretty serious questions and honestly, there are tons of possible answers. Here’s the thing: as Jon Acuff wrote in one of my favorite recent reads, Quitter, “…not doing anything is its own decision, and the odds of failure are horrible.” But people get so caught up in the fear of making a choice that they make no choice at all, or almost as bad, they default back to “I’ve always done it that way” thinking when something has caused that approach to stop working. So what’s the answer? [Read more…]