Online Newsletter
March 2011 - The Seven Steps of Change
Changes happen all around us every single day. Some we initiate, some come from outside.
Regardless of where change comes from, it can be fun, exciting, mildly annoying, disturbing or terrifying.
There are many ways to deal with change and many theories for how to cope with it.
What we do know is that our world is changing rapidly right now. We've been through a major overhaul of the financial services industry, serious disruptions in our world economy and possibly more changes yet to come.
Worldwide attention has been focused on revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt in recent weeks as those countries overthrew the leaders who had been in place for more than 20 or 30 years, respectively. Libya is now seeing open revolt by the people of that country.
In our own world, we can choose to be dismayed by such major changes or we can choose to focus on what we can do for ourselves.
In any change, there are predictable stages and if we know what they are, we can be better prepared to deal with what is in front of us.
The Seven Steps of Change:
- Being in a fixed position that is no longer appropriate for new changes.
- Noticing the need for change and desiring change.
- Forming a plan and starting to move forward
- Internal attitudes begin to change.
- Breakthrough, quantum leap, expansion.
- Rewards of change: thrill, excitement, wanting to "preach" to others.
- Being flexible and having new attitudes and beliefs.
If you have a change in mind, where are you in the process? Are you allowing time for the preparation stages and for the internal changes and beliefs that need to change before the actual change can manifest in physical form?
Many people become impatient when they first feel a need for change and want to jump to the implementation of change itself, without planning, without internalizing the new change and without allowing the change to grow and blossom in a reasonable way.
It takes time for those internal changes to happen after an idea is first formed. For business changes, it takes planning and organization before a change can happen. Even in our personal life, it takes time for us to really be ready for a change we seek.
And, it takes time to adjust to the new changes after it happens.
If we move too fast, we can "upset the cart" and destroy all our plans and ambitions. If we move too slowly, nothing may happen. We have to be sensitive to what we can change, how fast it can change, other people's ability to change if they are involved, and be conscious of how our own internal senses are responding to the change.
If things aren't going as smoothly as expected, take a "time out" - a rest or respite from whatever project is changing. Do something else for a while, take a vacation, take a walk, take a day off, take a coffee break - what ever works to give back time for the project to move along as it should naturally.
Especially with major changes happening in the world around us, it is important to create and allow "time out" spaces to happen. To find calm in the midst of outer crises and turmoil. Those calm spaces can act as openings for the change to grow without undo pressure.
A reminder about changes:
The thing about making it big and doing it fast, is that invariably the first steps will be small and slow. Which oddly, for many, is the same reason they don't take them. You know better, huh?
Huh, huh, huh?
The Universe
If you are thinking about creating sources of income, new business ideas or exploring expansion of a existing business, our book Income Without a Job has some great creative ideas and exercises to assist with that. The book is a great gift for friends who have been laid off or need extra support during these times.
This page is http://www.income-without-a-job.com/news/mar2011.htm
