How To Endure AND Be Adaptive To Change

Change can be hard.

Sometimes change is forced on us. Sometimes it is welcomed. Sometimes we even initiate it.

• Your spouse landed a great new job in another city. Now the whole family has to move and start all over!
• Your boss has asked you to take on a new job or assignment. And you have no idea where to start!
• You just received a new computer with the latest operating system and programs that are all different. The last time you upgraded was 10 years ago!

Change impacts us as individuals and families. It also impacts businesses and all types of organizations.

We all know that change is inevitable. So is there an easier way to deal with it? Thankfully, yes.

Know your strengths and identify what you enjoy.

This powerful combination establishes the ground for constancy, a value that can help anyone endure change – and even be adaptive to it.

If this resonates with you, consider the advice offered by Richard Bolles who I talked about in a Values Quote a few years ago. Recognize your strengths, identify what you enjoy most, and create the firm ground that lets you deal with any change.

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Today’s quote is from Richard Bolles, a former Episcopal clergyman and author of the best-selling job-hunting book What Color is Your Parachute?

Bolles makes the following thoughtful statement:

“I have always argued that change becomes stressful and overwhelming only when you’ve lost any sense of the constancy of your life. You need firm ground to stand on. From there, you can deal with that change.”

In his book What Color is Your Parachute, Bolles recommends we identify what we are good at AND what we enjoy most. He suggests these two ideas tend to coincide. It’s what produces the ground for constancy.

As a differentiating value, Constancy means enduring and free from change or variation. It also means faithfulness and dependability.

When we do a self-assessment, there is a strong relationship between constancy and strengths. If someone has been blessed with the gift of empathy, others can depend on them for being sensitive to their feelings and situation. If someone has been given the ability to be futuristic, others can rely on them for contributing thoughtful ideas about the future.

Constancy doesn’t mean we’re stuck with only being able to do one thing, or that we can’t do different things. Rather, if we have a greater understanding of our own strengths, we can better define where and how others can depend on us.

And when we know the firm ground that WE stand on, we’re more readily adaptive to change.

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