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Thursday, 01 October 2009 |
Change or die! Well, if that doesn't catch your attention, I am not sure what will. How well do you deal with change? Change can come in all kinds of ways, from a lay-off to a new competitor in your market to a sudden health-related event such as a heart attack. Some changes happen unexpectedly and other changes can be observed happening over a period of time. Michael Urlocker is founder of The Disruption Group. He shares some ways to manage change in your personal and professional life in a more effective way.
Ever wonder why some people and organizations deal well with change, while others struggle? A research study about change was initiated by Dr Edward Miller, the CEO of John Hopkins Medical Center, the highly regarded medical institution in the United States. Each year, over 600,000 people undergo bypass surgery to deal with heart related issues, costing on average $100,000 per patient, with another 1.3 million people having angioplasties for a total cost of $30 billion.
Here are the facts: Two years after life-saving surgery, over 90% of people have not changed their lifestyle! Even though they have faced death and lived to tell the story, people have a difficult time creating long-term, sustained change. Why is that? Heart-related issues are not rocket science! The solutions are clear -- reduce your stress, eat more vegetables, consume less fatty food, and exercise more. The framework to deal with the issue is apparent -- you need to make changes. I looked up the word 'change' in a Latin translation and here is what I found:
Commuto: to exchange
Converto: 'to turn in any direction'
Flecto: 'to alter shape
Flexibis: 'that which can be bent'
Inclino: 'turn'
Migratio: 'migrate, depart'
These definitions point towards movement and going in a new direction. It seems that we love to read about change, discuss change, think about change, but when it comes right down to it, we are not as easily adaptable as we would like to think. Change is challenging, and even if it means we will die by not changing, we stay the same. Wow...what a hard fact to swallow!
Interestingly enough, of the recovering patients that got involved with a one-year lifestyle program (including biweekly support meetings, education and coaching), 77% made a long-term lifestyle change. They also, on average, saved $100,000 in medical bills, and had a distinctly better quality of life. Change is a LOT easier to manage when we have both support and a process to help us through the tough times. At CareerJoy, we are all about providing support, education, and tools to effectively help in career change (which is not life and death, but does affect your life expectancy -but we'll save that for another day!)
Feeling stuck? We can help. Book an initial session and inclino, migratio, flecto, converto or commuto in the right direction!
Next week I will share the 5 myths uncovered in this study, so please stay tuned.
Changing, along the road with you...
Alan
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