The Real Danger Isn’t Change—It’s Staying the Same
Have you seen the movie “Stranger than Fiction”?
It’s a story about a man named Harold Crick. His days are identical. He brushes his teeth 76 times each morning. Then he’s running “at a rate of nearly 57 steps per block for 6 blocks” to catch an 8:17 bus to work.
He works in the Internal Revenue Service, reviewing tax files all day. Harold takes a 45-minute lunch break and a 4 minute coffee break. At the end of the day he goes to bed exactly at 11:13. And that’s been his life… for many years.
And then one day… one small thing changes… changing Harold’s whole life. (no more spoilers - you should watch the movie if you haven’t yet, really!).
Harold may have been an extreme example, but most people live a lighter version of his life. They move in an endless loop of repetitive days and are stuck… in their comfort zone. And although they say they hope for change in reality they are horribly afraid of it. Even if they don’t like their life the way it is they prefer the predictable misery to the unpredictable risky unknown that will be coming after the change. So they choose to settle.
It’s often the same in business…
I can’t count the times where my marketing ideas have been met with “it’s too risky”, “our brand image is too important we need to protect it”, “it’s not in line with what our user expects from us”, “we’re not in position to experiment right now”, “we know you’re creative, but maybe you should tune that down for now…” and many other similar statements…
Which is totally fine - not all brands can be cool - I get it.
And then there’s the most common and annoying ones…
“we’ve always done it this way” and “but that’s how everyone else is doing it!”.
It's human nature. Our natural reaction is to resist change when it comes and we rarely willfully initiate it.
But what we need to realize is that it is not a choice. The change is inevitable. It is going to happen whether you want it or not.
Things change all the time.
Seasons change. People around you change. The market your business operates in changes. Circumstances change. Relationships change…
and these days tech changes everything…
Those are all things that don’t depend on you. Things you can’t control. Things that happen and trigger a small change that creates a domino effect and eventually you realize that everything around you has changed and you can no longer protect that favourite comfort zone of yours.
You didn’t predict COVID would happen… and it’s gone a long time ago… but the changes it brought to our lives and business stayed forever.
Now most of us work remotely (hello depression and congrats introverts!) and our consumer habits are completely different as well as many aspects of our lifestyle. And all we could do was adapt and change our life and business accordingly so we don’t fall behind.
"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change" — Stephen Hawking
Intelligent ones though found many opportunities and completely changed their lives for the better in that challenging period (because unlike you they didn’t spend all their time watching Netflix!).
There is also an aspect I haven’t seen many talk about. It’s the fact that the more changes you initiate the more changes you seek. And maybe that’s because with each major change you initiate you get immune to it.
Change no longer appears to be that scary thing and the uncertainty is lo longer so terrifying… the opposite - it’s exciting. And sometimes you may even reach the point when you become addicted to change.
Probably I am… I changed 6 countries, 5 completely different careers, 20+ apartments… tons of times starting things from scratch, killing things I built, initiating experiments that never worked out.
But guess what? I have 0 regrets… because I would never give up this crazy ride full of changes and uncertainty and no comfort zone to replace it with Harold Crick’s life (before it changed).
Because with each change you grow.
And if it doesn’t work out - at least with each change you initiated you get a story to tell. What stories would people like Harold tell to their grandchildren? How many times did they brush their teeth each day?...
You probably shouldn't listen to me… but if for some weird reason you choose to do so - I’d encourage you to change something today (even if it’s a tiny little thing)!
"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up" — James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
Hey Rebels!
Don’t forget about our weekly X live audio spaces! Join us this Wednesday, and talk about Changes, or just hang out with other Rebels… set a reminder here:
Hope to see you there!
-Ani & Rick
RebelSpeakeasy.com by
•Find us on X @NFTrebels & @unl0c7
