Explaining “Embrace the Journey”: An Introduction to Dealing with Change.
You may have noticed the tagline below my name in the logo on my website.
The line reads “Embrace the Journey.”
Embracing the Journey has become a personal mantra for me over the last year. It started off as my own realization that the journey is in fact more important than the destination. This is something I work on understanding, living and practicing daily. At first this was just in my personal life, but quickly flowed into my professional life and has totally transformed the way I coach and interact with my athletes (more on that tomorrow.)
Today’s focus on the “Embrace the Journey” theme will be on the subject of change. I am getting my Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and recently took a class on “Change and Organizational Culture.” Here is what I took away from that class, in combination with my own experience as a coach.
Change is scary and uncomfortable.
PERIOD.
It’s also always going to happen.
You cannot, and usually, should not prevent change. In order to be alive, thriving and happy in today’s society, I believe you have to be capable of adapting to change. If your grandma is taking selfies and has a twitter handle you know what I mean.
Seriously though, try to name one major company or organization which hasn’t adapted, and is still relevant…..
Tivo? …
Blockbuster?...
Now think of the cool side of the pillow ;
Apple
All great leaders are agents of change. All great organizations foster a culture of change, innovation and adaptation. So let’s take a lesson from the great ones and channel into our own personal and professional lives as well.
Also, let’s not kid ourselves. Change is almost usually a good thing, once we have given it a fair shot. It’s just we as a species fear the unknown…that which we can’t predict and more importantly: control!
Control; now that’s a word to discuss for another blog. If you’re a control freak, start self-reflecting as to why. Get to that place, confront it and your life will change!
So why not stop trying to control situations and focus on embracing the moment and making the best of any given situation.
Easier said-than-done, right?
As John Wooden said,
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
<That dude was a living-breathing-trending twitter handle.>
For me, the most wonderful part of working in college athletics is that I see sport as such a clear and complete metaphor for life. How a student-athlete handles a win, a loss, a teammate dispute, a plateau, and a failed exam in the classroom…. all directly corresponds to how they act (or will act) in every other part of their life.
The athlete who avoids conflict with a teammate, is the same person who avoids conflict with their wife/husband and misses an opportunity for deeper intimacy, friendship and love.
What I have come to realize in the last year is the same can be said about how I coach and treat my student-athletes. Tough lesson, but damn, what a good one.
I don’t believe in compartmentalization.
Sport, and for a large degree, sports performance can act as a mirror for you to truly see yourself. How cool is that!
Tomorrow my blog post will be about “Embracing the Journey”, change and how this applies to SWIMMING.
Over the weekend I’ll also be posting a story, or two, about how I’ve been BLOWN-AWAY- INSPIRED by a few people in my life who have Embraced their Journey with open hearts and minds.
So freakin’ cool!
If you have people like this in your own life; hold on to them! Celebrate them. They’ll take you to some pretty cool places.
****COOL LINK BELOW****
Below I have included a link to an amazing article which I recommend every coach or leader reads. The article, by Dr. John Kotter, is entitled “Why Transformation Efforts Fail.” Many times we try to implement change, and no matter how well intentioned and planned, the change effort utterly fails. This article is a MUST read for anyone who wants to implement some important change with their team.
As you read it, think back to a failed change effort which you witnessed. I am sure you will be able to read this and clearly identify where the failure occurred.
Kotter’s Website: http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-leading-change/