If you have a dream, and you probably have one, since you are reading this article, then sooner or later you begin to wonder how to achieve it. Achieving a dream is a vast and multifaceted topic; it is almost impossible to cover it in one article; it’s time to write a monograph on this topic! Therefore, in this article I touch upon only one, but, in my opinion, a very important, key aspect - readiness for change. To achieve your dreams, changes are necessary, moreover, they are inevitable. It would seem that this should be obvious to everyone. However, we do not always perceive the changes that occur as good. Very often we perceive change very painfully.
As an example, I will give a typical life situation. Where you work, the salary is too small and you want to have a high-paying job. You think about it constantly, mentally imagining how much your life will improve thanks to a higher salary, what wonderful things you can buy, etc. In fact you are nothing you don't undertake you just dream, but your dreams occupy a significant part of your life. Time passes, and suddenly you are fired due to staff reduction, or you yourself are forced to leave, for example, due to illness, or the company goes bankrupt... There are thousands of options, but the result is the same: you are deprived of even the meager financial support that you had!
Most people perceive this as a serious nuisance, even as a catastrophe; some begin to lament and ask, “Why is this happening to me?!” and “Why would I do this?!” In the darkest mood, you open a newspaper with advertisements, go online and start looking for a job. Do several interviews with employers, and suddenly - lo and behold! You get a position in a company where you are paid two to three times more than you received in your previous job! All previous “troubles” with losing your job are forgotten and you are simply flying with happiness. Is this a familiar situation? And what was it really? And this is what happened: Did you order a high-paying job? Sign and receive! The universe has fulfilled your order.)))
Could the feeling of catastrophe and negative emotions in this situation be avoided? Can. To do this, it was enough to approach what was happening consciously, with a full understanding of what was happening. With the awareness that the order has been made and changes are inevitable, and the only question is who initiates these changes - the Universe or you yourself. Let's look at both options. 1. The Universe is the initiator of change. That is, you are nothing don't undertake on your own initiative, just dreaming and waiting for your chance. The difficulty here is that the state of relative peace and stability in which you find yourself is deceptive. It relaxes and lulls your alertness, and when your chance comes, you may simply not notice it and miss it. )))
2. You are an initiator of change. You yourself begin to actively act to achieve your dreams. And here again two options are possible, depending on what stimulates you more, where the stimulus comes from - from the inside or the outside. This is determined the amount of free energy you have. Some people have so much of this internal energy that it is enough for them to see the goal ahead and they will move mountains to achieve it. Such people are a minority. There are practically only a few of them. Most people do not have enough free energy; for active actions they need an external stimulus. A kind of overseer with a stick who will constantly push them in the right direction.
Such an external stimulus can be a teacher at school or institute who checks your assignments, or a trainer at the gym where you came with the intention of losing excess weight. Knowing that you do not have enough internal energy and willpower to study on your own, you quite consciously choose your “supervisor,” your external stimulus. The more global your dream and goal, the more powerful incentive you choose for yourself, even to the point of “burning bridges,” when you consciously put yourself in a situation where there is no turning back, and you have no choice but to move forward in the direction of your goals. For example, you deliberately write a letter of resignation from a job that does not suit you, and all your further actions are driven by the thought that in a month, if you do not find a source of funds to existence you and your family will simply have nothing to eat. Such tough situations, under time pressure, no longer just stimulate, but awaken your hidden reserves and you begin to show miracles of enterprise and ingenuity, completely unusual for you in the normal stable course of life.)))
And the experience and skills you acquire as a result of this practice of “burning bridges” is a valuable gift, a bonus that you receive in the process of achieving your goal. Actually, this is the path of self-development, self-improvement, growth of inner strength, where with the achievement of your next goal you rise to a new level. The main thing here don't stop for stopping means taking a step back. If you have achieved one goal, set yourself the next one. Is there a limit to this? Honestly, I don't know. But I immediately remember the poems of Valery Varava: “Have your desires come to an end? Check your pulse. You must be dead." )))
There is such a statement, a postulate: “All dreams come true.” However, you can easily find people who disagree with this statement, who are ready to prove the opposite, foaming at the mouth, based on their personal experience. Why do you think their dreams didn't come true? The reason that dreams don't come true is aversion to change. The Universe and Life itself puts a person in new conditions, initiates events, brings the right people, creating a chain of changes that will lead him to the realization of his dreams, but a person is possessed by the fear of losing stability, the fear of leaving his comfort zone, and as a result he pushes away with his feet and hands. himself, everything that in one way or another disturbs the calm and measured course of his life. A person can spend his entire life stuck in the box of his beliefs. and ideas, jealously guarding its cardboard walls, and in his declining years, old and sick, he will complain bitterly about life, which supposedly did not give him a chance to realize his dreams...
If I’m not mistaken, one of Mirzakarim Norbekov’s books describes such a real case. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and with the advent of a market economy, science experienced difficult times. Many scientific institutes were left without funding, and our hero worked in one of these institutes for many years as a research assistant with an academic degree. Despite the delays in his already meager salary, he continued to go to his institute, although every day in conversations with his family and colleagues he dreamed of finding a place of money and finally finding financial stability. And then one fine day he received a call from one of his former colleagues, now a successful businessman, who remembered his friend and offered him a well-paid job in his business. So what do you think? Our hero refuses this offer, and even with indignation! - how is it possible that I, a scientist, will become a merchant?! Never in my life..!
What prevents us from enjoying change? Fear of the unknown. Fear of leaving the zone of relative comfort and stability. Richard Bach describes this situation in one of his books as an example of such fear. A young girl lives in a metropolis, rents a tiny apartment on the 20th floor of a skyscraper, goes to a job she doesn’t like every day, breathes air poisoned by car exhaust, which undermines her health, sneaks into her home in the evenings with fear, since there is a high crime rate in this area and this has been going on for several years. From time to time, she allows herself to dream that she lives and works in a small, quiet provincial town with clean air, friendly neighbors... However, these dreams of hers remain dreams, although only one step separates her from realizing them - she needs to quit her unloved wife. work and go to the province. But moving to a new unfamiliar place means complete uncertainty, which frightens her so much that she prefers to endure her miserable existence in the metropolis...
And what follows from this? You should - live!))) Live with a constant readiness for change, rejoice at changes, welcome them, initiate them yourself at every opportunity, every day, every hour, every moment! Any changes happen for our good, even if at first it seems to us quite the opposite. Remember the old saying: “Everything that is done is for the better”.)))
Have you ever tried to start your life from scratch? Your answer is most likely yes. Have you promised yourself to change, become better, get rid of bad habits and finally fall in love with sports? But it all ended with a promise. What is the reason? Maybe you were simply not ready for changes seriously and for a long time?
The Heath brothers, professors at Stanford Graduate School, renowned thinkers and authors of the best-selling book “Thinking Traps,” have seriously studied the topic of change and written about the book “The Heart of Change.” In it they provide a test that will help determine whether you are ready to start a new life.
Simple test
Read the following four sentences and indicate whether you agree or disagree with them.
- You are a person of a certain type, and it is almost impossible to change.
- No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change a lot.
- You are capable of acting in different ways, but it is unlikely to truly change the core elements of your self.
- If necessary, you can fundamentally change your personality.
If you agree with the first and third points, then you are a person with a “fixed mindset.” And if you're closer to numbers two and four, you tend to have a growth mindset. If both the first and the second are close to you, you are confused.
It is your mindset that determines how easily you deal with failure and how persistently you will try to implement change. It can even determine career success. So, you have decided on the type of mentality - find out what is typical for you.
People with a fixed worldview
People with a fixed worldview believe that their abilities are fundamentally static: a person considers himself a good speaker, an average manager, and an excellent organizer. If you have a fixed outlook, you might think that these skills can be slightly improved or worsened, but overall they reflect the fundamental makeup of your personality. Thus, your behavior reflects your innate abilities, just as the taste of your first sip of wine reflects the contents of the bottle you buy.
A person with a fixed mindset tends to avoid challenges, fearing that failure will question his true abilities and be seen as a failure (just as the first impression of a sip of wine can make you decide not to buy a bottle). Negative reviews from such people are scary.
People with a growth mindset
In contrast, people with a growth mindset believe that abilities are like muscles that are built up through hard practice: if you push yourself, you can write better, drive a car, or listen more attentively to your spouse.
A person with a growth mindset is more likely to accept challenges despite the risk of failure. After all, when you're at the gym trying and failing to lift heavier weights, you don't have to worry about everyone making fun of you for being a "natural weakling."
Such people look for “developmental” tasks at work and calmly accept criticism, because in the end such criticism makes us stronger. Even if for now I am not as good as others, the “growing” person thinks, in the long run the story of Achilles and the tortoise may repeat itself.
Who are you?
What kind of person are you - fixed or growing? Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, has spent her career studying these attitudes. The results are clear: If you want to reach your full potential, you need a growth mindset.
Dweck has studied how attitudes influence the performance of Olympic athletes, virtuoso musicians, and ordinary businessmen. She proves that a growth mindset makes you more successful at almost everything. People who grow above themselves, take risks, accept criticism and boldly look forward cannot help but advance in life and in their careers.
Once you become familiar with these concepts, you immediately begin to notice that a fixed worldview reigns everywhere. Look how most parents praise their children: “You are so smart!”, “You play basketball so well!” It is fuel for a fixed worldview. A growth mindset compliment emphasizes the value of effort rather than natural skill: “I’m proud of you for working so hard on this project!” “It’s clear you listened to your coach—you held your elbow much better today when throwing.”
A person with a growth mindset doesn’t quit halfway and won’t expect quick success in a new business. It’s not for nothing that they say: “The slower you go, the further you will go.” Adopting a growth mindset is the only way you can make lasting, long-lasting changes.
Personal growth courses, business school programs, consulting tools promise quick and useful changes, BUT IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE?
Resistance to change and liquid state
More than seventy years ago, humanity began to actively pay attention to the fact that the implementation of the most correct decision (from quitting smoking to introducing an automated control system) faces difficulties - the most important one was announced. The first striking way to overcome difficulties was the proposal of K. Levin - (some experts use the term melt or melt). In general, make the system being changed (yourself or the organization) plastic and flexible.
Ready for change or jumping into the abyss?
In the eighties, " readiness for change". Sometimes this phrase was understood as giving courage, sometimes it was about the same defrosting. J. Kotter formulated this in one phrase: “ Create an atmosphere of urgency". Each of us has come across a situation where management escalates the atmosphere, paints an image of a collapsed company and the prospect of everyone finding themselves unemployed, etc.
At the same time, following J. Kotter’s succinct rule can:
- promote desired changes;
- cause resistance to change.
Identity and learning
E. Shane defined readiness for change as a struggle between two fears - the fear of not surviving and the fear of not adapting. When a person is not sure that he can learn to survive in new conditions, he is ready to give up the fight, no matter what the threat. Therefore, when the management popularly explained to everyone that nothing good will happen if you don’t work in a new way, the employees concentrate their energy... And if they know how to work in a new way, then all that remains is to be happy for the company, and if not, all their strength will go away to resistance.
The question that directly relates to change management is how to move from a state of inability to a state of skill. And the answer here is simple - gradually, through learning. It is not easy to implement it, because... it's day after day show persistence in what is planned, while you want to smash all problems with one swing of your powerful fist.
Major changes affect identity a changeable system formed as a result of previous successes (for example, clients found you themselves, and your task was not to miss, but in the new conditions it is necessary to make cold phone calls and it is difficult to step over yourself, because you consider this unethical spam).
Any attempt at identity change causes great anxiety. Attempts are made to solve the problem without disturbing the self. And to help with this, it is necessary to restore people’s sense of security - it is for these purposes that it is used as an image of the future, which today reduces the fear of learning.
Read more about readiness for change, features of problematization and the role of identity in the material "
In order for a successful and competitive organization to carry out changes, develop, and form a new organizational structure that is adequate to the ongoing changes in the external environment. Organizational changes are accompanied by a change in the usual values, patterns and norms shared by employees, as well as traditional methods of decision-making, if they are an obstacle to the organization’s adaptation to the pace and direction of changes in the market.
The process of organizational development includes several stages:
- identifying the need for change, diagnosing problems,
- study of functional organizational areas and environmental factors,
- planning activities and creating readiness for change,
- implementation of changes, transition to a new state,
- assessment, reinforcement and control.
The essence of determining an organization's readiness for change
Before any organizational changes, it is important to assess how necessary and significant they are. It is necessary to take into account the stage of the life cycle at which the organization is located. For this purpose, an indicator of the effectiveness of its functioning is determined, its dynamics are assessed over the past period, and based on this, conclusions are drawn by expert means.
The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to implement changes and the higher the degree of resistance from staff. Size is partly related to the stability of the organization itself and partly to the length of its existence. To some extent, both are associated with a kind of “crystallization” in the staff, which is more or less satisfied with the state of affairs.
A more effective corporate culture is one in which organizational change is no longer viewed as a forced adaptation to a changing environment and begins to be analyzed as a way to continually ensure organizational effectiveness.
Diagnostics is the establishment and study of factors and signs that describe the condition of an object in order to determine possible deviations, their causes and prevent key violations in its normal functioning.
The process of diagnosing the readiness of an enterprise to implement changes is the most important stage of their implementation, since it is here that the enterprise has the opportunity to carry out previously planned measures to transform the structure of the management system or other transformations.
Force field model
Force field model K. Levina- this is one of the diagnostic tools, which is based on the proposition that every situation at any moment in time is not static, but is in dynamic equilibrium, controlled by many factors that leave everything as it is.
The very understanding of change implies awareness of the concept of stability. Analyzing the issue of forces that lead to the establishment and maintenance of balance, the model considers factors that “push” changes and forces aimed at maintaining stability. The author calls them “motivating” (or driving) and “limiting” (or restraining) forces, respectively. When such forces are equal, equilibrium appears in the organization. In Figure 1 graphically, force factors are represented by arrows that reflect their direction, and the thickness and length of the arrow characterizes the strength and duration of its influence.
Rice. 1. Force field model
The implementation of changes implies an increase in the importance of motivating factors or a decrease in limiting ones, or some combination of interactions that upsets their balance. A manager seeking to “push” the change process should focus on reducing the influence of limiting forces, which should help reduce tension, while increasing the motivating forces only increases resistance.
The positive or negative attitude of people towards change is determined not so much by the results of the change, but by whether people's needs for control over the situation leading to change were satisfied. The perception of the success of change is determined not so much by the actual state of affairs, but by differences in the perception of people or organizations of what they expected from the change and what actually happened, with their ability to adapt to the changing situation.
There are many driving and restraining forces. In the case of amplification alone, the driving forces can stimulate change quite well, but the tension also increases due to the emergence of new forces of resistance. If the driving forces for change have been strengthened, this new level of balance of power needs constant support, or the effect of change may be lost.
Construction and analysis of the field of forces implies the study of the existing set of factors that influence the current state, grouping of factors and assessment of the nature of their influence. Because of this, factors can be divided and systematized into ones that constrain and encourage changes (Table 1).
Table 1 - Grouping of factors that support the stability of the organization
So, an organization's readiness for change is based not only on attitude. It is based on awareness of the content of innovations, their collective and personal significance, the methods and purposes of the participation of a team or individual in innovations.
The organization's readiness may also be partial, based only on some of the above components, but in this case, it is essentially impossible to form a stable, actively positive attitude towards innovation. A significant influence on the formation of readiness for changes is exerted by the awareness of personnel, their participation in the preparation of innovations, the choice of implementers of innovations, and the selection of motivation methods.
Due to the fact that the activities of any organization are quite specific, the formation of a universal methodology for assessing its readiness to implement changes is a difficult task. The described assessment provisions are aimed at developing general principles and conditions for conducting research, and specific assessment criteria and indicators are determined by the specifics of the functioning of each analyzed organization.
Why does it happen that instead of achieving goals, we mark time?
Why do our wishes come true for others?
To find answers to these questions, it is enough to simply understand - are you ready for such changes?
For example, dreaming of a promotion, you may be internally completely unprepared for this. After all, with a promotion may come business trips, higher responsibility and overtime work. And you are comfortable in the place where you are now - after work on your favorite sofa, weekends with family and friends. And if you are not ready to leave your comfort zone, then obstacles constantly arise when achieving your goal. You can't fool the subconscious!
Exit: listen to yourself again: do you really want this promotion? Or maybe you just dream of earning more?
And if you dream of earning more, do you really need money? Or do you just want to travel more with this money?
Ask yourself the question “Why do I need this?” until you find your true goal.
The second moment of unpreparedness: this is when what you dream of begins to come true for others.
- Firstly, this is a good sign - the Universe seems to be telling you: he did it, and you can do it!
- Secondly, this is a kind of test for you - do you really want this? Are you ready to afford it?
And if you are lamenting why you are being punished like this, then you have failed the test.
Then your dream will come true very soon.
If our desires are sincere and from the heart, they are always realized in the best possible way. Just allow yourself to accept it.
