3 Words That Will Expose Your Resistance To Change

If you've followed my work for awhile, you know I am a BIG Seth Godin fan. His ability to pack so much thought into just a few words is incredible.

While catching up on some of Godin's posts a couple of weeks ago, I came across one that really rattled me as I read it. Three Ways To Add Value focuses on three words that can quickly expose how little time we daily dedicate to moving ourselves, our team, or our organization forward by acting on change. See which of these words best describes where you spend your time:

Tasks
These are the almost mindless activities we undertake each day. Their main purpose is to help us maintain the status quo, or at least not move backward (hopefully). They keep us busy, and seem like safe choices.

Decisions
These activities do offer a small chance of moving forward with change because, as Godin writes, you use knowledge and judgment to pick the best one. The problem is that they only incrementally move us forward, and sometimes only make us more efficient with our resources... not necessarily more effective in meeting or exceeding goals or objectives.

Initiation
Godin calls this, "Making something out of nothing." It's those moments when your mind starts thinking about new possibilities, and you have the chance to really make a difference. Unfortunately, our fear of the unknown causes us to revert back to "tasks" and "decisions" because they are the safer choice.

Godin finishes his brilliant blog with these words:

When we think about humans who have made change happen, institutions who have made a difference, cultural shifts that have mattered, we must begin with initiation.

I mentioned I was rattled by his words. So rattled that I had to get honest about my resistance to change with an element of my business. For over a year I've been producing a weekly video blog. I know it's time to upgrade the look, feel, and quality of the videos, but I reason that I just need to get them done (A task). Oh I might tweak the lighting, and add a couple more resources (A decision), but that's it. To really improve the quality, however, I needed to make some radical changes to how they are filmed, the backdrops used, and several other details. So this past Friday I took out the bookcases people had come to expect in the videos, and started research on creating better backdrops (An initiation). I don't know what the final result will be, but I can take solace in the fact that at least I'm not stuck in the status quo anymore.

Look at your day or week... where will you be spending most of your time?

For more on this topic:

Three Ways To Add Value (Godin's Blog)
How To Use Engagement To Ignite Innovation