“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts,” wrote British author Arnold Bennett.
That means that stress always accompanies change, but there are ways to deal with it. The best way to is to anticipate change and get ready for it. If you know you’re going from a warm building into the frigid outdoors, you put on a warm coat and gloves, and the temperature change doesn’t shock you. If you know you’re about to hit a bump in the road, you brace yourself, and you don’t get thrown from your seat. It’s only when you get caught off guard that you get into trouble. So be alert for change. If you’re complacent, you will probably miss the signs that it’s coming your way.
“Change descends on everyone equally,” said Azim Premji, CEO of Wipro Corporation of India. “It is just that some realize it faster.”
While sudden changes get attention because they are dramatic, it is the gradual changes that are ignored until it is too late, as illustrated in the story of the boiled frog. If you place a frog in a pot of water and suddenly increase the temperature, the frog will notice and quickly jump out if it can. But if the temperature is very slowly increased, one degree at a time, the frog does not realize it until it boils to death.
You must develop your own early-warning system for change. If you anticipate change and stay alert for its first signs, you can position yourself to take advantage of it.
To deal effectively with change, you must keep up with changes. You can’t adjust to what you don’t know. Read extensively the literature dealing with the field in which you pursue success. Look for the trends and develop strategies for riding these trends to success.
Don’t overlook the possibility of influencing change. Nido puts it this way:
Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? A thermometer only reflects the temperature of its environment, adjusting to the situation. But a thermostat initiates action to change the temperature in its environment. Nido Qubein, The Time Is Now, the Person Is You. (High Point, N.C.: Executive Press, 1997), p. 23.
In summary, you can work any change to your advantage when you follow these guidelines:
(1) Be adaptable to new circumstances and changes; don’t resist them.
(2) View change as a blessing for opportunity and growth.
(3) Use your repositories of problem-solving and coping strategies when faced with changes in your life.
(4) Look for opportunities to create breakthroughs during major changes and crises.
(5) Engage in lifelong learning to stay abreast of change.
(6) Keep your principles intact despite the change.
(7) Use change to break bad patterns and grow from the experiences of change.
(Excerpt from the book, ‘Life Balance the Sufi Way’ by Azim Jamal & Nido Qubein’