Constant Changes

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change — this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.”
Bruce Barton

The list is of epic changes is endless…

In the 1940s, the invention of the modern air conditioner becomes the catalyst for a population explosion in the unbearably hot South and Southwest.

Fifty years ago, cash begins giving way to credit cards. Today, credit cards are giving way to bank debit cards.

Pay phones (remember them?) give way to cellphones.

In 1980, the major television networks are caught off guard by an upstart cable TV station called CNN. Sixteen years later, CNN is overwhelmed by its ideological opposite, Fox News.

In 1995, a kid from Albuquerque puts his Internet bookselling idea into practice, calls it Amazon.com, and ends up dictating the business strategy of Borders and Barnes & Noble for years to come. A few years later, two other kids start a little search-engine company called Google, which becomes the first serious challenge to Microsoft’s overall dominance. Facebook… MySpace… Twitter. What’s next? Things change.

All of the above comprise but a tiny sampling of some of the major changes that have taken place fairly recently. If someone were ambitious enough, he might spend a few years putting together a book — a very large book — on all the major changes that have rocked the world over, say, the past 100 years.

But you don’t need to read such a book to reflect on what change means to you. I’ve given it a lot of thought over the years, and my conclusions boil down to this:

1. Life does not stand still. Count on it. Never carve your plans in stone. Strive to make flexibility an integral part of your being.

2. Rather than fearing change, think of it as an exciting aspect of being alive. Sometimes the unknown disappoints — even devastates — when it makes its appearance. But more often than not, it brings with it incredible opportunities. Practice expanding your mind to be on the alert for the offsetting positive in every negative situation.

3. Fight the numbing effects of homeostasis — the tendency to maintain the status quo. Hanging on to yesterday’s reality is psychologically unhealthy and can cause you to be out of touch with today’s reality. Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a postdated check. But today is cash.

4. Keep moving forward. Action is the oxygen of success. You have to keep hitting those singles and doubles to stay in the game of life. Because if you’re at bat long enough, that perfect pitch eventually will come across the plate. And that’s when you have to be ready to hit it out of the park.

Simplistic. But it works for me.

Just realize that the way you view change will have a dramatic impact on the decisions you make, the quality of your life, and your future success (or failure).

Things change. Think about it.

Source: Robert Ringer