“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
I don’t think that’s true any more. I think things are becoming rather extraordinarily different from what they’ve ever been.
More relevant, in my view, is the ancient curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Because oof, are these times ever way “interesting”! and it’s dizzying and disorienting.
And with all that “interesting” stuff going on, there’s anxiety.
By definition, change means the future is uncertain. And when the change is unplanned and unexpected, well, oof again. It’s that much more uncertain and anxiety-inducing.
Which leads to a point I’ve made before: change leadership is as much about our personal life as it is about our professional career.
It’s not only organizations that are facing today’s VUCA reality. (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) (Ahhh, acronyms…)
It’s our entire end-to-end life.
The question becomes, then, how do we find some sense of peace and even fun in the midst of it all?
And that’s where the tools of change leadership come to bear, whether we’re applying them within our professional lives or within our families and communities.
Here are a couple of the tools I’m using myself and with my family, community, and clients in these strange, change-filled times.
Tool #1
Every morning – it’s right there on top of my digital to-do list – I ask myself:
What can I control today?
Even when we know better, it’s easy – beyond easy – to get wrapped up in trying to figure out how to control things that, in reality, are way outside of our control.
When I ask myself, “What can I control today?”, I bring myself back to focus on what I actually can do, accomplish, and feel good about.
Instead of spinning out in anxiety, I take action to make my part of the world better.
Tool #2
When I find myself spinning out even though I’ve asked that first question (yes, indeed, it’s never a “once-and-done” thing), I remind myself:
Today Me isn’t allowed to know what will happen.
Future Me will know what happens.
For some reason, I – and my clients – find this surprisingly reassuring. I suspect it’s because it points out that, hey, at some point, the anxiety will be resolved.
Tool #3
Part of using Tool #1 effectively is understanding whether you’re facing a problem or a predicament.
Problems have solutions. You can fix a problem and return things to their original – or better – state. You have control of the problem; you can find a solution.
Predicaments have no solution. You can’t fix it. You have no control over a predicament. There’s nothing you can do when it rains on your vacation; you have no control over the weather. But you can manage the outcome. You can find something fun to do indoors, instead of the outdoor activity you’d planned.
I wrote about this in my latest Leadership Leap article on LinkedIn, “What are you solving for?”, so I won’t go into more detail here.
Change Leadership: leading yourself and others
Sometimes the speed with which change is exploding out of the future into the present is overwhelming, for sure.
Breathe. Take one step toward what you can control. And remember: future you will know how it all turns out.
There’s obviously many more tools in the change leadership toolbox than these three, and I love teaching them and guiding my clients through practicing how to use them in different situations. Want to learn more? Drop me a note through my contact form and we’ll set a time to have a conversation – not a sales pitch!