Are You Progressing or Regressing through Change?

I’m always amazed at how quickly things change, and how some folks can end up worse off for a failure to adapt to change fast enough

This morning on the way to the gym near our head office, I couldn’t help but notice the big red signs: “Store Closing Sale.” It was a Blockbuster Video retail store. It got me thinking about how change brought rise and now demise to this chain. How did we see movies then and now? Think about it - from movie theatres, to VHS (and Beta), to DVD, and now streaming digital. Along the way, the competition for distribution became fierce. It appears that Blockbuster has not responded to recent market changes effectively, hence their filing for bankruptcy.

Likewise, the last lab processing Kodak film has now closed. The growth of digital camera use by consumers and professionals alike has been a game-changer. All the pictures on our website were taken using various digital devices.

What is the lesson in all of this for us?
As Peter Drucker once said, “the best way to deal with change is to initiate it.” In order to continue to grow and succeed in our personal and professional lives, we need to be continuously learning and changing. Let’s face it, even in a marriage a comfort zone of same-old same-old routine can eventually sap the initial vitality with which it started. If we like to work out, and keep doing the same routine for years, our results will diminish – we need to change it up. And as former GE CEO Jack Welch once said, “If the rate of change outside of an organization is greater than the change within, then the end is in sight.”
So, what do you need to change this year? What do you need to do more of, or less of? In what area is the consequence of not changing the greatest for you?
When we reflect on and plan the direction of our lives with goals, we navigate change more effectively with greater joy and purpose. We then can feel the comfort of some degree of control.