Do you sometimes feel like you are moving forward in your life blindly, without all the answers? Do you feel like everything around you is changing in real time? Are you adaptable and agile enough to make sure you stay relevant? Can you step out of your comfort zone, and make the changes you need to make to succeed in your business and personal life—even if you don’t have all the answers? Doers find the courage to push forward, even if they do not have a clear line of sight as to where they are going.
Doers are fearless. Doers move ahead without all the answers and trust they will be able to figure it out, or adjust, if needed. Doers just know they will do something to better the situation, no matter what the cause. They trust the process, set their sights on the horizon and begin moving in that direction.
What about you? Are you ready for change? Are you being fearless in your pursuit of what’s next?
Sometimes when you take on something new it can feel like you’re swimming through an ocean of kelp and reeds—without visibility as to what’s around you, or even what’s in front of you. The crazy thing is, you need to go even faster than you are.
Old school business and institutional thinking would say stop and access the risk, test the direction. But in today’s world, this is not an option. The rate of change around us is continuing to accelerate, and if we want to be relevant we need to swim through the reeds faster and faster, with an intended direction, of course, but not truly knowing totally where we are going to end up. We need to be willing to change quickly if we realize it’s the wrong direction. But how can we be quick and agile, but also purposeful and methodical at the same time?
Quite frankly, this scares me to death.
Fortunately, I work with a great team that has the courage to be nimble and take on challenges and changes—ready to drill through the muck. A big plus when you are literally in Uncharted Waters, and wondering when you’ll step off into the deep.
I was mentally stumbling around as I was working on this blog on Saturday, casting about, trying to hook a solid way to explain my feelings and ideas. Amazingly, a book I had pre-ordered and long forgotten, finally arrived in my mail. The name of the book is Imagine it Forward by Beth Comstock, and it rocked my world. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Turned out, it was exactly what I needed to help me finish this blog. Beth Comstock does a much more eloquent job of explaining the way I have been feeling.
Here’s a quote from the book:
“One of the defining characteristics of our new age of rapid fire change is that leaders, managers, and employees have to be able to move forward without having all the answers. They have to feel their way in the dark. It is very disconcerting, particularly when you have to do it at full speed. They know they need to be more inventive to succeed, but they admit to being uncomfortable with creative people and their rule breaking ways. They realize they need to partner more with other companies, but are afraid of reaching beyond their own insular communities. They know they need to make changes, but want proof of success before doing so.”
Here’s another quote that had great meaning for me, but in a slightly different way:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent……” Charles Darwin wrote. “It is the one that is most adaptable to change. Those who have learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
Everyone reading this blog needs to be “fearless for change.” Start wading through the kelp and reeds in a purposeful direction, even if you don’t have all the answers. We have many challenges that need to be solved and Doers are the ones to do it. Whether it is tackling the new world of health care, our food system, climate change, bullying, sexual bias, or any of the hundreds of other issues that face us, you can have a role in changing it for the better. Yes, you can!
Even if you are not the Doer yourself, and are petrified by this notion, find a Doer who is working within a cause you care about and help them, then you will become a fearless Doer, too.
I just want to give one more shout-out to Beth Comstock. I recommend you all buy her book, Imagine it Forward and keep it visible, where you can see it everyday—because you are going to need her inspiration and insights much more than you might think in this crazy, fast paced, digitized, artificial intelligence-influenced world we live in. We have big things to accomplish. YEP!
Courage On—
AZ