Introduction to Adapting to Change

Imagine…

Your child comes to you and asks if they can have a friend over. You have a packed day with virtual meetings, but you move one or two things around to make it work.

Just as you hit the final send button on the last email to switch your meetings, your child comes to you again and asks if they can go to the friend’s house instead. Even better, you think, but you must move a few more things around to drop them off.

As the final calendar invite was accepted for the new meeting time, they come back to you again and say they can’t go over to the friend’s house because their mom has virtual meetings, and the playdate is back to your house.

You try and move your meetings back to their original time slot, but of course, not everyone can make it now, so you’re stuck with a crappy schedule of meetings for the day. To top it off, your child comes to you and says forget the whole thing. They’re just going to play with the neighbor kids instead.

We have all been in a situation where what we expect to happen completely changes. Consider a work situation, when your boss tells you a project is going to happen, then maybe happen, then for sure going to happen so rearrange your schedule to make it happen, but then at the end of the week comes to you and says it’s never going to happen.

These stories are real-life events that cause friction, frustration, anxiety, and stress. Whether we introduced the change ourselves, as in the first situation, or imposed upon us, with the boss at work, it is the uncertainty of change that causes our stress response to go into overdrive.

Without the ability to Adapt to Change your SMaRT journey will be cut very short because change is the only true constant in our lives.

Purpose, Process, Payoff

Oftentimes we don’t see change or anticipate it, yet it is a constant occurrence in our lives and impacts us without notice.  Some changes are so small we unconsciously accept them, adapt, and move on – a road detour on your way to work for example.

There are sometimes when we are acutely aware of how change is impacting us and all the different phases we go through to get through the change process. Typically, the kind of change that impacts us at our cores are the ones that trigger our stress response. This is when it is:

1. Large enough to impact our daily habits and rituals.

Example: The car broke down, so we have to take the bus to work.

2. Drastic enough to make us switch focus.

Example: A pandemic erupts and forces everyone to be home together.

3. Powerful enough to trigger emotional push-back.

Example: Your company switched software mid-way through a big project.

4. Costly enough to reduce vital resources.

Example: Two of your best salespeople quit without notice.

5. Opposing enough to challenge our worldview.

Example: Your oldest child decides to drop out of college to follow their passion for travel.

To have successful stress management, it’s important you understand the phases of change so you can thrive during the process, take ownership of your behaviors by controlling your self-talk and emotions, and consistently be effective and efficient in the moment by adapting to the changes in your environment.

Let’s look more closely at the purpose for you being here, how you will be spending your time, and what you’ll ultimately be able to do after you take this course.

Purpose

As a result of taking this course we expect you will be able to:

1) Adjust behaviors and work methods in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles.

2) Shift priorities in response to changing conditions.

3) Revise decisions when presented with new or revised information.

4) Articulate specific action steps to take to adapt to change more quickly and effectively.

5) Identify which phase of change is taking place and navigate through it utilizing predetermined tools and resources.

Think for a moment on the ramifications of mastering this skillset and meeting the objectives above. This will have a huge impact on alleviating stress in your life.

Let’s talk about the Process.

Process

First, we are going to explore the concept of Adapting to Change and what it means to go through each of the phases. We’ll be breaking down Adapting to Change into four phases with each phase being its own section.

Next, we’ll uncover the science of Adapting to Change because the connection between change, anxiety, and stress is primordial.

Third, we’ll focus on the benefits of Adapting to Change and what life will be like when we increase our skills and reduce our stress.

Lastly, we’ll be detailing ways of putting the new information into practice and take you through some incredible activities to bring the concept home.

The content builds on itself so make sure you go through the course as it is laid out. If you skip around or jump ahead, you’ll likely get confused and need to start over.

Payoff

Adapting to Change is both a psychological and behavioral process. When you learn to adapt to change you become less rigid in thinking and behaviors, opening yourself up to new opportunities, creative problem solving, and less worry. You also turn to more healthy behaviors that support growth and relevancy.

Your results will help you create winning solutions that are relevant to your life goals and business objectives.

Let’s move forward with the Phases of Change.