For many years, my company's claim has been: Making change simple. I love the ambiguity of the phrase simply, because depending on whether your emphasis is on the word simply or make, it has a completely different meaning. But what exactly is hidden behind the philosophy of making change simple? This is precisely the question we want to address in detail in this article. Would you like us to get started right away?
Change is what you make of it
Imagine for a moment that you were living in a of my lectures are sitting in the audience. Hopefully you have already laughed a lot and heard me announce an experiment in which a glass of water plays the main role, which I hold up in the air with an outstretched arm. The following thought may immediately cross your mind: „Oh, here comes the old hat, whether the glass is half full or half empty.“
But that's not the point at all. I'm results-oriented and I'm only interested in whether the water quenches my thirst. Instead, I'll ask you another question: „If I hold the glass this way, how heavy do you think it is?“ After hearing your answer, I get to the real point. „You know what, the absolute weight doesn't matter at all. The only thing that matters is how long I stay in that position. If I only hold the glass for a short time, it's not a problem. If I held it for an hour, my arm would start to shake at some point and I'd have really bad sore muscles tomorrow. And if I held it like that all day, I wouldn't be able to think about anything else, I'd be in a lot of pain and my arm would be paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change. But the longer I hold it, the heavier it gets.“
Make change easy: Focus is key
Every day, we find ourselves in dozens of situations in which we are confronted with a wide variety of Changes are confronted with. And it makes a huge difference how you deal with it. Whether you think: „Oh no, that's definitely not going to work.“ Or whether you opt for the alternative: „Oh yes, let's tackle it.“ Whether you hold on to the glass with all your might or put it down again in time. But whenever the Decision is particularly challenging, it springs into action with regularity.
That nasty little voice in your head that appears in the form of a little devil on your shoulder and explains to you in great detail and seductively why your plan is not a particularly good idea, what can go wrong and why it's best not to try it at all. You know those doubts, worries and fears that come with change? That was a rhetorical question, of course, because we all have them. And it's good that they are there because they have an important function. They protect us from making too much of a fool of ourselves.
But as with the glass of water, it's all about how you handle it. If you only have a little doubt, that's perfectly okay. But if you carry your doubts around with you for longer, they will eventually turn into worries. And if you worry all day long, you will become anxious. And fear paralyzes. So the message of the metaphor is simple. Successful change does not depend on the problems you are confronted with, but solely on how you react to them.
Because whatever challenge you face, you alone decide how long you hold on to your glass and when you put it down again. I would like you to internalize this insight right from the start: Change is not what happens around you. It is how you deal with it. It is your Attitude.
In moments of doubt, it is even more important. When everything goes perfectly, everyone can shine. We all know plenty of fair-weather captains. But how good are you when things don't go as they should? Do you moan about how hard you have it and how unfair the world is? Or do you decide to make the best of it, say yes to Au and actively change? Even if the situation seems difficult, you usually can't change the external circumstances.
Why excuses prevent sustainable change
The only thing you can influence is how you react to it and when you put your metaphorical glass down again. To help you do this successfully, this article will give you some ideas and impulses to help you create a Mindset that you can use to make change easy, even under difficult conditions.
Of course, I am very aware that I will also have to contend with different variations of the nasty little voice in your head. Because whenever it comes to simple solutions, the little devil on your shoulder likes to say things like „I've heard it before“, „I've already tried it“ or „That may work for others, but it definitely won't work for me.“ If you should catch yourself thinking one of these or similar thoughts in the course of reading, please remind yourself to put the glass down again in good time. I know what you're thinking: „But Ilya, it doesn't happen that often with me.“ But this search for excuses and reasons why something doesn't work, disguised as an innocent inner voice, appears on all kinds of faces. And many people have told themselves their own excuses so often that they no longer realize how much their own resistance to change is already pronounced.
Too much change at once: the phenomenon of change fatigue
Added to this is a growing fatigue with change. When I recently told an entrepreneur friend of mine that I had another book about successful Shift he frowned and remarked critically: „Oh come on, everything there is to say about change has already been said.“ And you know what? He wasn't entirely wrong.
Each of us has probably read dozens of books on this topic, internalized metaphors about mice, penguins or icebergs, learned strategies for time management, happiness or Motivation and nodded my head vigorously as I read it. But which of this wealth of information did you actually put into practice? In seminars, lectures and team-building measures, you have learned how change works in theory. You put your hand to your chin and laughed heartily when the seminar leader pointed out to you that he had said nose loud and clear (if you don't know what I'm talking about now, you were lucky and probably haven't sat in one of the typical, but mostly interchangeable change training sessions).
You have felt what it feels like when you fold your hands and change the thumb on top. And you probably know many more theoretical exercises that you have done to familiarize yourself with the topic of Shift approach. But as a participant in one of my own seminars recently said to me: „Change? I've already tried that. It was far too complicated for me.“
The great dilemma of successful change
And that's the crux of the matter. Because there is a crucial difference between knowing and being able to do. Between thinking complicated and doing simple. And this difference leads to a major dilemma. On the one hand, the rate of change is increasing rapidly. At work, at home, on the road, simply everywhere. Sometimes we are surrounded by so many unexpected challenges that we don't know exactly which one we should tackle first.
At the same time, theoretical knowledge on how to deal with change is exploding. The amount of information available is increasing exponentially. No matter what know-how you need today, knowledge is usually just a mouse click away. And it doesn't matter what it is, there are detailed experience reports on really every subject area and you can draw on the entire swarm intelligence of humanity. Try it out. If you enter the search term „How can you...?“ in Google, you will get 1.7 billion hits. There's nothing you can't learn on the Internet. So everything should be perfect, right? Situation recognized, problem solved, hook on.
However, the increasing knowledge is by no means a relief, but has become a major hurdle for many. Because before it can even be implemented, all the energy is used to sort through the flood of information and find the needle in the haystack with which to implement the philosophy of “making change easy”. The result: the notorious procrastination.
Simple does not mean easy, but „not complex“
You put off a planned change until you have resigned yourself to the fact that „it's just complicated“ and that you can't change anything after all. Don't you know this from people in your personal environment? Maybe even from yourself? I am always amazed at how complicated some people make dealing with change. They analyze the problem down to the last detail, develop multi-stage implementation plans or study all the research findings of the last twenty years.
But the more complicated a path is, the less likely it is that you will actually follow it. And because you have heard so often how difficult and complex change is, at some point you believe it yourself and have found a wonderfully plausible excuse as to why you can't change after all. However, if you make dealing with your own challenges a complicated matter, failure is almost inevitable.
When I was a department store manager, a new change program was presented at almost every management meeting. They had one thing in common: great titles, usually over 200 PowerPoint slides and 7 stages of change, each of which had 9 sub-steps that we were supposed to work through in 3 phases. During one of these conferences, I once sat next to a colleague from the Ruhr region. While everyone else was slumped in their seats, he still looked really enthusiastic, even on slide 175. So I asked him: „You always nod so knowingly, do you know how to implement that?“ And he said: „Nah, far too complicated, but it looks so good“. I don't know about you, but I find it's hard to get excited about a change that's complicated. And it's impossible to get other people excited about something that you can't get excited about yourself.
The foundations of successful change
But if it doesn't work that way, how does successful change work? The bottom line is always the same, simple principles and a large portion of common sense. But don't you know people who can't find the solution to their problem because they are so busy looking for complicated excuses as to why they can't change? I wish you had been there one day when Mrs. T. sat in my office for a coaching session. I looked her in the eye for a long time and then said: „Mrs. T., you are thirty-eight years old, a successful businesswoman and, according to your own statement, you have already undergone 152 hours of therapy. Yet you still don't feel able to give a presentation in your company?“
She blushed slightly and replied: „Oh, Mr. Grzeskowitz, it's just complicated. I've tried so many things, but I always get big red spots on my throat, my mouth gets dry and I start to stutter.“ I nodded and then asked the question of all questions: „I see, Mrs. T. Are you ready to change something?“ Her answer said it all: „You know, Mr. Grzeskowitz, I would actually like to change. But it's not that easy. If you want, we can give it a try.“
So I wanted to. But I sensed that she didn't really want to. Nevertheless, we worked intensively together and managed to solve her problem in just one session. After just ninety minutes, she was able to speak freely in front of a group. Without red spots. Without a dry mouth. And without stuttering. But if you now think that Mrs. T. broke out in jubilation because of this, then you are mistaken. Instead, she kept saying: „It can't be that simple. No, there's no way it can be that easy. It certainly won't last long.“
And she was right. Because exactly three weeks later, the phone rings. It's Mrs. T.. And with a certain satisfaction in her voice, she announces: „Well, Mr. Grzeskowitz, you know what? I had to present the quarterly figures to the sales force today. I could barely get a word out and the red marks are back. Ha, I told you right away that change isn't that easy!“
Change is always as easy as you make it
Why was that? I have no idea, maybe she enjoyed the attention or loved being able to tell others about her problem (this is a big hobby of many people). But as much as I would have liked Mrs. T. to change, she just didn't want to and preferred to stay in her cozy comfort zone. She was so fixated on the need for a complex solution that she hadn't even considered the obvious simplicity. But think back to your own changes that you have mastered sustainably in the past. What was the common denominator? That's right, it was always simple solutions and approaches that produced the best results.
You can see how easy it can be by looking at a form of change that probably all of us are familiar with. I'm talking about smoking. More specifically, quitting. It's always the same pattern there. While some are successful by simple means, others struggle every day anew with a supposedly complicated problem. Have you ever successfully quit smoking? Do you know anyone who has managed it?
I used to smoke myself. As a coach, I have also carried out many smoking cessation programs and given dozens of seminars on this topic. My experience can be summarized simply. The bottom line is that there are only ever two categories of smokers. There are those who have doubts from the outset as to whether they can really make it. Those who worry about withdrawal symptoms, weight gain and side effects. Who then quit for a few days, but start again at the first opportunity. Who tell themselves so often how complicated it is until they believe it themselves. And then don't change, but continue to smoke. And of course moan about how much they would like to stop if it wasn't so complicated.
But how do the millions of ex-smokers who have successfully managed to change do it? Are you ready for the hard truth? Here it is. You've made a decision and quit smoking. Just like that. From one day to the next. From one moment to the next. Some people need a little help in the form of coaching, a seminar or a book. But then you simply quit and are a non-smoker from one moment to the next.
I can already hear the objections of the little devil on your shoulder: „But Ilya, that might be so easy if you only smoke a little. After all, I smoke a whole pack a day.“ I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter how much you smoke. Even heavy smokers stop smoking by simply quitting. It takes longer for the body to detox, but the principle is the same. However, many people have been told so often how difficult and complicated change is that they no longer have the idea that the best solution is still the simple one.
Make a real decision for change
I became very aware of this one summer when I watched my then four-year-old daughter Emma discover a large carton of water ice on the top shelf of our fridge. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, these are those artificial water sticks with woodruff, cola or lemon flavor that you put in the fridge and then turn into ice.
In any case, my daughter was completely crazy about these things. But she had a problem. She wasn't tall enough and couldn't reach them. What do you think she did now? That's right, she moved heaven and hell to get to the ice cream. In the end, she stood on a wobbly construction made from a chair, two cushions and a saucepan. And when she proudly raised her trophy in the air, I felt that the effort had been worth it. She had brought about the change because she really wanted the ice cream. She would have done anything to get it. And it just happened. I didn't have to tell her beforehand: „Watch out Emma, this is a really complicated problem, you should prepare yourself well. There's a revolutionary change model that a professor at the University of Tübingen has developed. But be sure to take a personality test beforehand so that you can find out what type of change agent you are. And be sure to attend a behavioral training course where you learn the best angle to open the fridge.“
She didn't need all that. She just did it. Because she motivated and had found a simple way to achieve her goal. And this leads to an important insight: whether you are getting an ice cream from the top shelf of the fridge, quitting smoking or facing a completely different challenge. Simply making change happen.
Change becomes easy when you make change easy.
Albert Einstein once said: „Make things as simple as possible. But not simpler.“ In this article, I would like to remind you that successful change is always based on simple ideas and solutions. But allow me to make one crucial point. Even though I so often emphasize the word simple, I don't mean easy, effortless or without any effort at all. Quite the opposite. Fate can be pretty tough and challenges you every day to see if you really mean it.
Life is not a pony farm. It is often unfair, often hurtful and not always fair. If you want to change under these circumstances, you can't do it without doing something about it. Success doesn't happen by itself. And I know that there are hundreds of books and many seminar leaders who promise you that you only have to wish hard enough for change and it will fall from the sky. But if that were the case, why are so many people sitting at home on the couch in their sweatpants, having already watched „The Secret“ eight times, sending ten wishes an hour to the universe, and wondering why they still have a mediocre job, why they've been single for years, and why the Ferrari they ordered from the universe is still a rickety Opel Corsa in the garage?
Because success is always a combination of hard work and first-class quality. Because it doesn't work without action and implementation. Because change is simple, but by no means easy. Therefore, one thing is particularly important to me: that you take your life into your own hands and actively change. Because if, like the famous ostrich with its head in the sand, you trust that everything will work out, then at some point you could find yourself in a situation where you are changed by external circumstances. And these changes will most likely not be in line with your values, goals and dreams, but with those of other people. And that might not be the best prospect for the future, is it?
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