It’s gotten to be a cliché. The pace of change is increasing and is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. You’ve heard it a thousand times, in a thousand different ways. At times it feels as if we keep repeating it for the same reasons that accident survivors keep repeating, “I just can’t believe it.” when they are in a state of shock. By repeating it, over and over again, we hope that it sinks in and starts to become normal. If that is the case, we have to say it again and again and again.
I do believe we are in a bit of denial – and that is a dangerous place to be. Denial takes several forms: pretending things are as they have been, paralysis, fear or underestimating the size, pace and impact of the changes around us. These denial strategies may provide a false sense of comfort in the short term, but are devastating in the long term.
One way to move out of denial is to be confronted with facts that give shape and form to that which you are denying. The video, Shift Happens, might do that for you!
Many times, companies cross a road where a software change or upgrade becomes a necessity. Management usually makes the decision to change their software with the right intentions: to increase efficiency. But there is a bit of an oxymoron effect of this. There is a period where the transition to the new software actually slows the production and efficiency of employees. Whether or not their efficiency will rise above that of the previous software is a lingering question at this time. Employees will need enough time to adjust and get used to the new software before they become masters at it. But how long is too long? The efficiency lost during this transition could prove to make this investment a losing one. Even if the production of employees on this new software increases to the same level as the last, and eventually surpasses it, the decision to change may still have been a bad choice. Let’s say that this efficiency rate differs in all of your employees (as it really would). Will your originally most productive employee now be a “bottom-feeder”? Will the young-bucks of the newer generation take advantage of this situation and pass on their elders? My answer is yes.
1) Wake up early! Don’t fall victim to negotiating with you alarm clock for more sleep. The snooze button is for the people who want to sleep their lives away. I challenge you for the next week to get up an hour earlier then you usually do and get going. Once you see yourself getting a few more things done during your day, maybe the next week you can get up earlier. 
The word “niche” means something different to every company. Some companies wish to find their niche, some have found it and rely on it, and some want to move on into another. Chances to change a company’s niche arrive all of the time. These “chances” are brought about through changes in their industry, changes in the economy, and changes in the management’s desires. In the manufacturing of metal component parts in America, specifically, a change in the industry arose in the early 2000’s. This industry, as well as many others, was shifting their focus to cheap labor. In other words, “China”. Price was the name of the game for some of these parts, and with struggles in the economy, customers of these manufacturing facilities were valuing price over many other important factors (even quality). How did customers find a lower price? They found cheaper labor. It was a sad realization that factors like relationships, quality of a certain part, and on-time delivery were not making the sale for these businesses any longer. Some American companies took the lower bids and barely broke even for a few years, hoping the work would come back to the US. For others, this was not an option; rather it was a “chance” (or necessity) to change.
Now just hold on a minute. What happened to the whole love trumps everything concept? I mean that’s what every romantic comedy has ever taught us, right? Well guess what, the movie writers didn’t just make that crap up. It really happens. I learned quickly that change is inevitable. Whether you like it or not. Whether it’s good or bad. Whether there’s a reason for it or not. I was so scared that it would mean I failed at life if I didn’t do everything I set out to do. That giving up any goal would be just that—giving up. But then I started to realize that having a life with someone else didn’t mean giving up my personal goals for theirs. It meant learning to compromise. It meant that now I have so many new goals and that I have someone else to work on those goals with.
A lot of the time in life we get caught up in unnecessary stress and forget that it’s not the end of the world. We need to do a better job of relaxing, especially in the work environment. Statistics have shown that the more relaxed a person is the happier they tend to be. In correlation the happier a person is the more productive they will be.
Medical professionals were in full agreement. And athletes, believing it so, ran accordingly.
