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Handling
Change... Creatively
©1997-2004 Edie Pereira Hulbert
and Spiriti of Small Businesss. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Competing in today's business world requires constant change and flexibility.
Gone is the guaranteed life-long career. Most individuals to ay will
have many different careers in their lifetime. Many of us concentrate
our efforts in the area of training specifically for our jobs and we
forget that everything begins with ourselves. Economists are stating
that adult education is the way of the future and that motivational
training is now a must.
Understanding the human mind is the place to begin. Specifically, understanding
your own mind and how you operate will open many doors of opportunity;
knowing where you want to go and devising a way to get yourself there,
taking action.
How do you begin? The first thing you must do is create a vision. Develop
a clear picture of the ultimate position and activity you would be happiest
in. A few years ago, most of us knew what our careers would be like.
You knew that if you could land a job with a large corporation or if
you went to college and got a good education, you could count on being
employed for a lifetime and receiving a steadily growing paycheck. This
is no longer the case. With companies downsizing, right-sizing, etc.,
the emotional roller coaster is very draining. You're not certain from
day to day where you will be.
A clear vision is, therefore, very important. Knowing the type of person
you want to be and the type of job you want to be in will assist you
in creating the best world for you. Develop a vision and make it very
clear- describe yourself, the job, company, and office. Make it so real
that you are there now. Make it colorful, detailed. Focus on the vision
daily.
Understanding and knowing what values are and how yours apply to your
life is very important. Examples of values are: freedom, success, making
a difference, love, integrity. These are important to each person in
different degrees. Additionally, we all have feelings we would like
to avoid, such as ejection, frustration, anger and procrastination to
name a few. Amazingly, people will do more to avoid heir negative feelings
than they do to gain the positive ones. So, sometimes, even if you are
excited about the chance to grow, you may be more afraid to leave the
security of your current job. You stay with the position or even with
the career because it is too frightening to try something new. Or, a
better example may be that you actually lose your position due to attrition,
and you view this as a failure instead of a new opportunity to spread
your wings.
The most important factor in making any change last is to have empowering
beliefs about the outcome. Limiting beliefs will hold you back more
than anything else. Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot,
you are right. Your actions will depend heavily on your beliefs. If
you believe that there are no jobs, then it may take forever to find
a job. If you believe you are too old, then you will consistently meet
with that rejection. Believing that you are a dedicated person and that
you will do whatever it takes to create the world you deserve will bring
you the results you are looking for. One key thing to remember is that
your past does not equal your future. Just because you did it one way
in the past doesn't mean you have to do it the same way in the future.
An additional tip to help you is to monitor your thinking. Listening
to the words you use consistently, monitoring how you talk to yourself,
and how you interpret events will make a tremendous difference. Do you
consistently tell yourself what you can't do? Do you consistently use
words life try, should, can't difficult, doubt, if only, but? Do you
consistently categorize evaluate or judge yourself and others? Listen
to the words you use and transform those negative words to positive
motivating forces.
Vision, values, and beliefs will get you refocused. The final touch
is learning to manage your moods. Mastering state management will make
the shift last. Beyond skills, your performance depends on your state
of mind. The ability to manage your emotional states determines the
results. State management is the difference between success and failure.
You can have all the success in the world, but if you do not manager
you state of mind, you have nothing. If you manage yourself - if you
learn to manage your emotions then you have all the wealth that most
people could ever dream of having. What you get in your life is not
going to make you happy; who you become and how you manage yourself
determines the quality of your life.
From The Rochesterian, July 1994.
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