Transfer Or Transition? - Grasshopper

How does a person change? Do they transfer or do they transition from one way of life to another? They do both. And one way is more lasting than the other.

Few people make instant changes. They’re the rare exception, but are touted by profiteers as the model for change. “Instant Change” is the marketing slogan that attracts many, soon to be disappointed, consumers, customers, clients, and patients.

Some transitional changes can appear as instant changes. What goes unnoticed is the incremental information they’ve packed away along the way, until, one day, Poof!, they seemingly transfer to a new way in a snap.

We’ve all be exposed to the ancient wisdom, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” What may not be apparent in that profound reminder is that the student had to be led by baby steps before he or she could make the big leap to new learning. An apt analogy would be: you have to learn addition and subtraction before Algebra makes any sense.  You transition to Algebra.

It may come as sad news to you, but you have to play “Chopsticks” before transitioning to “Chopin.”

The biggest stumbling block to change is patience. As a culture, we’ve been conditioned to expect an A-B-C or 1-2-3  way of quickly doing things. We learn to pooh-pooh our patience.

Here’s a suggestion: If you need to cultivate patience (and you do), plant a garden. No amount of instant change from seed to seedling happens. Daily watering and patience is required.

The lesson offered here is this: Make “incremental” your benchmark and your friend and you’re more likely to transition to the result you want in the end.

You can chase instant change if you like. But that’s as effective as riding to your destination on a stationary bike.

If you truly want to transfer from A to Z, find the patience to do it incrementally.

All the best,