Thrive when change arrives

Look around and we can see that in the 21st century, change is constant and stability is rare, not only in our work life, but also in our home life

So the reality is, to flourish and enjoy success in our rapidly changing world, we must learn to thrive in the face of this change, adapting and continuously reinventing ourselves

In fact, according to bestselling author of 21 lessons for the 21st century, speaker and award winning historian Yuval Harari, the most critical skill for all of us today is the ability to cope with change and keep evolving

What this means is embracing lifelong learning, developing resilience and adaptability, and being open to new experiences and opportunities

Swapping seeing change as an energy sapping drain for embracing change, even making it central to our personal and professional growth. This way we can flourish and thrive in the face of all this uncertainty, creating brighter futures for ourselves and our world

But here's the rub - when faced with a challenge, difficulty, or setback – in other words - a change - how well do you actually cope?

If you are like most people, me included, the truth is, not well. In fact when faced with change, whether it's because of our health, work, family or anything else, most of us find change can be difficult. It is definitely more of an energy sapper than something to be embraced!

What's good to know is, your answer to this will give you an honest assessment and a good appreciation of where you stand today, what your perception and mental map is now. What's even better to know, is that if we can shift our mental map and accept change as a neutral fact of life, not positive, not negative, simply a part of life’s rich tapestry. We can concentrate and focus our energy on understanding our emotions and reactions to the challenge, change or setback – and tap into our internal coping system, to help ourselves

Psychologists call this response to change ‘problem solving and learning’ because that is what we are doing purposefully and mindfully

What you will notice is we haven’t said that you can delete the emotions, we haven’t said there is a way to not have the emotions, we haven’t said ignore the emotions. What we are doing, is accepting that they are a natural part of dealing with change. We are embracing our emotions – we are feeling and then analysing or problem solving asking ourselves, “are they hindering us or helping us?”

What is great for us to know is that at this moment of our heightened emotions we can choose a resilient response. In effect decide that the storm has come to clear our path not to disrupt

How about today you reframe change and think about how the disruption of change can clear your path for something new

It is helpful for you to know that all the research confirms that we, as human beings, are naturally resistant in our response to change so this won’t naturally happen. Only 20% of us are naturally resilient so it really requires us to shift our mind-set and change our perception and interpretation of the impact changes have. This is just like changing our interpretation and perception of storms. We can Use the ARTT of progress: Assess the situation, Relate it to our emotional reactions and choose to Take action

This is the new mental map introduced in our Change muscles Upskill. The content is designed to help you lead yourself through change with confidence, competence and curiosity so you face the adventure of change and the storms it brings well

We created this Upskill because so many people asked us about how they could build an ability to cope better with change, so Change muscles Upskill helps them do just that so they can stop wasting hours listening to podcast after podcast, watching endless videos and instead start applying, doing, and building. The Change muscles Upskill shares an abundance of tips and insights to build your ability to thrive when change arrives

Today decide how you can shift your mind-set and enjoy the storms of change so you can thrive when change arrives

Start flourishing now and discover our Change muscles Upskill