Why change is important for growth

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Winston Churchill

As our lives start to fall into routines and we re-live our daily patterns over and over again, it’s easy for us to get into a rut. We get up at the same time, have the same breakfast, take the same commute to the same job, live in the same place, and have the same bedtime routine. Our lives can become very predictable. We may choose these same habits because they seem efficient and familiar. In fact, the majority of us prefer to stay where we are because it is comfortable rather than change to strive for our best life. Uncertainty and the prospects of failure are key factors that keep us in place. We don’t see the need to improve something that isn’t broken and therefore most of us only decide to commit to change when it becomes absolutely essential. It is impressive what we endure with enough clever rationalisation and wishful thinking.

We like holding on to constant things. Ironically, the one thing that is constant in life is change and therefore if we don’t change along with it, we will fall behind. Becoming comfortable makes us end up auto-piloting through life, as our neural pathways for routines have been carved deeply and don’t require much steering effort anymore.

Whilst in some cases being on autopilot can be beneficial to conserve thought energy and respond quickly, too much of it can make us feel stuck, prevent us from being agile or think creatively, and can make us sprint through life blindly. As adults especially, we often can’t recall big junks of our day and feel that time passes a lot quicker than it used to. Five years can easily blend into one if we don’t secure enough change in it. We could compare it to spiralling on the same level for years without evolving. Progress doesn’t happen by staying still. If we want to keep growing in life and develop our level of creativity, we need to invite change into our lives and expose ourselves to new things on the edge of our comfort zone. Confronting ourselves with new things re-activates our brains and creates new neural pathways. This doesn’t mean that we constantly need to make massive changes. Small daily changes, like getting up early to see the sunrise, taking creative classes, travelling, and learning something new will re-engage our brains and add many more elements to our life. It empowers us to stay curious, it feeds us with more experiences, achievements and with inspiration when we think creatively, as well as makes us remain excited about life. These daily changes might seem insignificant in the short term but if we examine them in the long run, we can see their impact more clearly. Just imagine how your life would be like five years from now, if you keep on doing what you’re doing. Then imagine how it could be like if you amended course.

If we actively focus on the life that we want, we can implement conscious change to help us get there. This means disrupting our current lifestyle in the way that takes us closer to the outcome we are after. Change usually isn’t an isolated event. One change will spark another one and create a snowball effect.

Not all change is in our control or ends on a positive note. What we can control however, is our attitude towards it and we can even build a drive for it. Rather than clinging on to things that we would like to be permanent, we can try experiencing them fully whilst they happen and let them go when their time comes.

If we expose ourselves regularly, we build an inner strength that will help us manage difficult situations more effectively. When we are confronted with a similar situation in the future, we have the confidence knowing that we are going to be okay. This helps us be more open to uncertainty and risk. Change happens on many levels; internally, as well as externally. We can update our environment, expose ourselves to new people, adopt new habits, we can change our beliefs and mindsets or we can choose to make different decisions.

When we think about making changes, we often worry about what we are going to lose and more often than not, this can stop us from taking action. So next time you find yourself in this situation, think about what you could be gaining from making this change and let this be your motivation.