Empowering steps you can take to take control of the change happening to you
Change is not easy and is disruptive. Take back control and peace of mind.
There is a lot of disruption and change happening in the world at the moment. The war in Ukraine, the price of oil and the cost of living skyrocketing and heatwaves across the Northern Hemisphere causing devastating fires, just to name a few. Each one of us is dealing with change in our own circumstances.
For me, work has gone through a number of restructures and significant changes. It’s hard to see people around you losing their jobs. I felt survivor’s guilt, feeling anxious about my job and the future and sad that people I know and friends with are moving on.
Change is hard to implement and as project professionals our job is to implement change into the organisation and it’s easy to lose perspective on the personal impact that the project can have on people. And as project professionals, we can also have change imposed on us.
Change is permanent
That is such common sense that it’s become cliche. But when change happens to us, we resist it, deny it or ignore it. All these things add to our negative emotions about the change. It feeds into our anxiety, sadness and anger.
It doesn’t mean that you embrace it and accept whatever you’re told about it.
I went through the cycle of denying it and trying to embrace it and back to being angry about it.
And that is OK. Your emotions are your emotions. It’s the action that you take that matters. I took the following actions to help deal with the change.
It’s a signal
Negative emotions are signals of what the change means to you. The worst thing you can do is make it wrong to feel that way. Or trying to make yourself happy with the change. Trying to feel something that you don’t feel.
A colleague of mine suggested the next step. The best thing to do is to process your emotions on the change. Why do you feel the way you do? What about the change that makes you feel sad or angry or frustrated or anxious or whatever you’re feeling?
By answering these questions, you’ll start processing the emotions. I bet you would feel calmer and less emotional. And you’ll start identifying things that you can start doing or stop doing. I highly recommend journaling it.
Finish the exercise by writing down what I am grateful for and the reason why you’re grateful for it. Tony Robbins likes to say “When you are grateful, fear and anger disappear.” I think it’s true. Daily gratitude is a powerful exercise.
The next action is to improve your mindset. There are many different ways to do it. For example, exercising, going for a walk or connecting with people. One of the things I focused on first was to work on my mindset. I listened to Brendon Burchard, Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory and Ryan Holiday
Slow down
When significant changes happen like a restructure at work, we tend to rush into action just so that we feel we are doing something. Taking action is important but don’t rush into it.
One thing that Anne Rinne suggests in her book Flux, is to slow down. Slowing down helps you to process the change, and improves your clarity and focus and ability to adapt to the change.
She suggests that we ask ourselves these questions. You might not get the answer straight away. The purpose is to ponder and investigate and start peeling back the onion layers
Do you feel like you’re running faster today? Why?
When did it start?
Is it something you’re driving yourself to do, or are others driving you to do it?
These are the existential questions. It won’t necessarily solve your immediate need.
From the journaling exercise above you should start identifying why you’re feeling what you’re feeling and what you’re worried about.
Start mapping out a plan for resolving the concerns or worries that you have.
My worries were about losing my job and not being able to find one soon. My first instinct was to update my CV and look for a role. But that is not the action I took.
I mapped out what I needed to do.
Save for 3 months’ worth of expenses in an emergency fund.
Pay down my debts.
Work on other income streams.
Network and connect with people.
Be the best at my job.
Then take action on them.
Perception and Action
When taking action and working through the change, your mind will do stuff that makes things harder. It will ruminate, and raise negative emotions again or distract you.
Don’t overthink the situation. See the situation for what it is. Leave your judgements, your emotions and your biases out of it.
Focus on what is in front of you, the task at hand. Do it to the best of your ability and move to the next one. Don’t think about other future tasks or the big picture, just what is in front of you.
Most of us take problem-solving as all or nothing. The problem is either fixed or it isn’t. This can be overwhelming. Try this mindset - don’t try to solve it all but how can you make it better than what it is? Then incrementally improve it each day.
With any change at work, it gives you an opportunity to start fresh. You might have a change in title, be part of a new team or have a new manager. Use this as an opportunity for a new start.
You can do the best you can at your job. Practice and master the basics. Ask yourself what can you do better. What can you stop that is not adding value? What can you start doing to improve your performance?
Action what you can control
Change being made to you at work is never easy. It affects you emotionally and mentally. You can take control of what is in your influence and let go of what isn’t it. Take a holistic view of things and identify actions that you can take.
Remember, your mental health is important. If you need to, talk to someone about it. In the end, it’s only work.
Quote
"You only have control over three things in your life – the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take.” ― Jack Canfield
Using this quote, what is one thing you can change in your thinking, visualization and action you can take that will progress your goal or improve your day?
Practice
Take one or two actions from the article above and practice it daily.
Let me know how you feel and what works or doesn’t work by leaving a comment below.
Useful resources
Here are some valuable resources that I used for the article.
How To Be Awesome At Your Job Podcast
709: The Eight Superpowers You Need to Thrive in Change with April Rinne
653: Training Your Mind to Conquer Stress, Pressure, and Underperformance with Dr. Ellen Reed
I haven’t had a chance to read the books. I might do a book review and summary for a future newsletter.
The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday.
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