Successful Lives Are A Series Of Adjustments Rather Than Wholesale Changes - Grasshopper

When people tell me they want to change, they are usually looking at a LARGE mountain and rarely make it past the foothills. That's because change is too big a chunk; adjustments are bite-sized and more easily digested.

I haven't met anyone yet who has "changed." I have met many who have migrated from maladjusted to making adjustments. I think of the metaphor my friend, Doug O'Brien uses about moon rockets. He read where they are off course over 90% of the trip. They are constantly course correcting or adjusting to reach their goal.

 

Based on my experience, "Change" has the mindset of "set and forget" attached to it. "I want to change something from this to that and be done with it." We want it to be like changing the color of the wall in our living room.

 

Change is a set of adjustments - a migration, not a quick coat of paint.

 

You hear about golfers changing their swing. That means they are being coached in a new way to swing their clubs. In the recorded history of golf, no swing change has happened overnight. It's one adjustment here, and when that is feeling comfortable, another there. It's a series of adjustments that, when viewed as a whole, gets labeled "Change."

 

It may only seem like semantics but the wording is important. If you have your head filled with thoughts of change, you're apt to conjure up insurmountable. If you label what you are embarking on as a series of adjustments, your goal seems more attainable.

 

It may seem like I'm saying "one step at a time" but it's more than that. It's breaking down the concept of change into manageable parts, so that when you do start taking steps they don't have to be overwhelming, which tends to keep change at arm's length.

 

What small adjustment can you make today on your way to change? It's worth getting curious about and acting on your discovery. To quote astronaut, Neil Armstrong, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

 

All the best,

John