How to Embrace Change and Grow through Challenges

By definition, change is to make things differently or even become different yourself, to fit into new circumstances, and ways of doing things or blend with new environments. Over the past years, I have understood (the hard way, at first) that change has to do a lot with our mindsets. Our mindsets have much to do with our day-to-day success. And if our mindset is one of embracing change and seeing it as an incredible opportunity, then success will come. 
 

So where does the challenge exist?

It actually exists in many different parts of this change process; from our decision that something has to change to the final outcome. And most of the challenges do not have to do with actual risks, but with us getting out of our comfort zone; habits that we have built and we are used to having every day and make our daily routine look easy and comfortable.

Let’s look at an example from my experience in the HR business over the past years.  I have been discussing with multilingual candidates from all over Europe, who are not happy with their jobs, due to low salaries, bad working conditions, unstable working schedules, no hybrid model, location, etc. Do all these candidates easily accept the offers that our company is proposing? No. And the reason is that behind these factors, which have to do purely with their jobs, there are many other things in their everyday life, connected to their jobs that they are not willing to change.

Things like family life and responsibilities, commuting to work, and everyday activities have been set up according to our obligations. Are these enough to prevent someone from changing? Definitely yes. Because as humans we are used to a routine that helps us go through the everyday difficulties that arise, and we think that by changing this routine, we will either break down, or our world will tear apart.

However, this is not exactly the case. Looking back, we can see that humans are very adaptive to change; cataclysmic events, world wars, cases of economic crisis, deadly viruses, and many other things, have forced humans to change their lives, routines, jobs, or even the place they live, to adapt and keep on growing.

So it is possible. 
 

But how?

How can we go from the point of denying change to realizing that it can be done and eventually grow to something bigger than we were before?

 

Well, there are just 5 simple (but not so simple) steps to change:

Awareness

In order to change, we must acknowledge the fact that something must change; either due to negative effects on our lives (professional and personal) or even stagnation.
 

Desire

In order to change, we must acknowledge the fact that something must change; either due to negative effects on our lives (professional and personal) or even stagnation.
 

Prioritize

Set action steps, understand what you have to do, how and why, in order to proceed. 
Set goals, break them down into small steps and set a plan.
 

Action

Start! Even with small steps. Everything in life changes by just starting to do things you did not do until now. You will be surprised when you see that you will still be alive! 
 

Consistency

When you start, you will experience some feelings that you have not felt until now, depending on what you are trying to change. Tiredness, anger, rejection, difficulty and a feeling that you are out of control or order. Sometimes you will fall on your face, you will make steps back to review, or even follow a different path. You must never stop! Everything in life takes time and we must be patient, so consistency is the key to actually seeing if this change you are trying to make is actually working.

 

So, if you ask me, change is inevitable when we are talking about the 21st century and all the events that take place. However, growth is a matter of whether we will choose to change or not and at the right time. Resisting to change may keep us up and running a bit more, but eventually, we will stay out of date. 

So, try changing your mindset and start with even small things. One day these small things may grow into something much bigger.