I am exhausted, overwhelmed, and frustrated with two years of crisis-level changes. I am absolutely over it. What about you? I do know people for whom changes are not an obstacle, but even those folks are now asking for a break, a moment of calm. My method of coping with exhaustion, overwhelm, and frustration is to look at a challenge and break it down into its individual parts. Then I evaluate the degree to which I can control any of those parts. If I can’t control them, can I leverage them? I have seen that while often big changes can close doors, they can also open other doors. If I stand raging in front of the closed door, I probably won’t see the one that opened. I’m not preaching here; I have experienced this in my 20 years of being in business for myself. I acknowledge our love/hate relationship with changes.
Our Love/Hate Relationship With Changes
In so many ways, we count on changes. We rely on changes. It is not even the end of January, and many have already forgotten those hopeful and optimistic New Year’s resolutions we made so faithfully. We were all counting on our new determination, based on last year’s changes, to get to the gym at least three times a week this year. To alter our eating habits to lose weight and live longer in good health. This is the year we will be more patient with our children, our parents, our clients, and our co-workers. Especially in December and January, I see that most of us are willing to embrace changes. We need them to happen. We resolve to make them happen. Changes are a new beginning for a better future and a more enjoyable right-now. So yes, we have a love/hate relationship with changes. We love changes when we know we need them.
What About Two Other “C” Words: Comfort And Complacency?
It’s 4:55 a.m. and I should bounce out of bed to get to Crossfit. But yesterday was hard, and I’m very busy all day today. So I’ll stay in my warm bed to be fresh and ready for work. Then I will work really hard today so that tomorrow I can easily get up to go work out first. It’s only early January. I can ease into my new, promising, and healthy routine. Yep. That’s a good plan for my new year of changes. Ouch! I suspect we have all been there, done that. There have been volumes and volumes of books written with methods on how to change. There are seminars that address how to leave a comfort zone. There are biblical admonitions about complacency. But at the zero hour, when it is time to choose, what drives us out of our warm beds and into the cold and dark drive to the gym?
If You Keep Doing What You’ve Always Done, You Will Keep Getting What You’ve Got
What does it take to get different results? Processes must change. Attitudes must change. Beliefs must change. Commitments must be made and adhered to. Yikes! That sounds like a lot of work. And we all already have a lot of work. I know we have all been caught up in this spiral, especially in the last two years. If you are still raging in front of doors closed by Covid and by supply chain breakdowns—stop. Stop shaking your fist and start looking around for another door. Focus your energy on finding ways to leverage what you do have. Read some of the plethoras of recent articles about the success of start-up businesses during the pandemic. Go back to the roots of why you started your own business. Let past successful business benchmarks remind you of earlier hard choices that brought you to your current state. You have not always been static.
Take A Granular Look At What You Have. Choose To Have New Results. Then Start.
It is still January. The year is new. Pick something progressive in your business and go for it. Get advice from peers. Seek suggestions from other professionals. Aptica will give you a free assessment of your technology and we can support your push to the next level. If you want it, if you need that change, think about how good that accomplishment will feel. It’s what got you to where you are now. Call Aptica and ask questions about technology. We answer in plain English. 260.243.5100.
Jason Newburg, 260.243.5100, ext 2101, is the founder and owner of Aptica LLC. This IT management and support company has been serving small to medium-sized businesses for 20 years in the region that includes Angola, South Bend, and Fort Wayne, IN, Battle Creek, MI, and Toledo OH.