"Do most people like change?" author and speaker Matthew Kelly asks a packed audience. He asks for a show of hands. "How many of you here think people like change?" Not a single hand in the audience goes up. I look around. I don't raise mine either. "Like change?" I think. Nahhhh....
Matthew Kelly raises his own hand in the air. "I do," he says. People laugh nervously. What??? "I think most people like change," he says. Really, most of us would LOVE to change!! We'd love to lose 25 pounds. We'd love a better relationship. We'd love a better life. WHAT stands in our way? "Transition!! It's transition we don't like!! We'd rather stay where we are, even stuck, then go through the pain or uncertainty of transition," he says.
Pretty insightful I'd say! The most utilized gear for most of us is neutral. Of course negative inertia is worse, but what may be even more typical and possibly more subtly problematic for most of us human types - is our neutral inertia. It's comfortable to just keep doing what we're doing... EVEN IF IT'S NOT WORKING! It's easier to hear a good talk, a good idea, a good next step... and JUST DO NOTHING. NADA.
If you're eating unhealthy, it's easier' to just keep eating chips and fast food.
If you're watching a show on TV and its over, it's easier to keep watching the same channel than to find something better.
If you're addicted - it's easier to stay addicted than to break the addiction.
If you've been working in a career or position that doesn't work for you - its easier to keep doing it, or craft a resume and get a job doing pretty much the same thing elsewhere! (Go figure!)
"The thing we d more often than anything else - is continue to do what we're already doing," says executive coach Marshall Goldsmith.
So, if you really do want to grow... if you really do want to improve... if you really do want a better life... if you really do want to become the best version of yourself - how do you overcome the "neutral inertia?" Here are three suggestions.
1. Write down what you want. That's right! Simple as that, putting on paper somehow makes it real and helps you declare what you want and where you want to be. (That's why creating a personal Mission, Vision, Value and Legacy statement is so crucial! Do you have an MVVL?)
2. Tell someone else what you want. Again, there's a great power in verbalizing it and sharing it with at least one other person.
3. Hire a coach or join or join a coaching group to hold you accountable for what you want. The truth is that very few people achieve positive, lasting change without ongoing follow-up. On the positive side, those who do change employ the power of others in community to do something different.
What change are you wanting to make?
What will you do to overcome the neutral inertia?
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