Being Flexible, Adapting to Change

Shares 103

They say that the only permanent thing in this world is change. And no matter how much you try resisting it, change is imperative, and will take place even if nobody wants it to happen.

This applies to the job world, as much as it does to any other world or field. There would be times when you would sit and think if what you were doing at the moment or have been asked to do by your boss was even part of your job description. Predictability and stability are comfort zones for us and it is difficult to move out of comfort zones willingly or unwillingly. However, in today’s highly competitive and fast moving job world, it is essential to step out of the comfort zone and be flexible and adaptable to be able to embrace change in order to grow and develop further. In case you don’t do it on your own, you will be made to it by hook or crook in order to survive, or you would perish.

Embracing change and being accepting of it comes with its own advantages and benefits that are unrivaled and can hardly be achieved the way it can be this way –

Being seen as dependable
When you embrace change and are willing to experiment with things with perceived benefits and show interest in taking up new never-taken-before projects and assignments, you are seen as dependable and reliable. You are perceived as the go-to person. This makes you a person who can be counted on to lead the change in the organization and in the team.

Growth – professional and personal
When you are seen as accepting of change, it creates a unique positive image of your in everybody’s eyes. This will help you with your appraisals and earning those extra points you need to grow professionally and within the organization, even earning you some great recommendations and references. On a personal front, it will make you explore within yourself to see what you can do that you didn’t know. It will bring to you values and behavioral attributes that you never knew existed inside you.

Creating and overcoming challenges
We often hear people complain that they don’t find any challenges at work anymore and that it has become dull and dry and monotonous. When you embrace change, you create challenges for yourself to overcome, puzzles that you get to solve, which adds spice to your daily work life, offering to bring in a spirit of adventure that you will start liking in your job. Each challenge that you overcome is like a peak scaled and a mission achieved. Is that not fun to do?

Helps take baby steps
Every person begins by taking baby steps before achieving greatness. When you embrace change, bit by bit you take steps towards greatness too. The big car you wanted to buy, the big boss’ chair you wanted to occupy, the new house you wanted to buy, all start coming closer step by step when you embrace change.

Survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence
The great evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin had said there is always a struggle for existence among the organisms, and in that struggle only the fittest survive. The same applies in the corporate environment too. Each employee faces a struggle for existence, and from all the employees out there, only the fittest survive. Since change is the only permanent thing that happens in this world, every time you adapt to change, you declare yourself as fit for survival and as superior to others who refused to adapt to change or who were not able to adapt to change as whole-heartedly and completely as you did. So the end result – you survive!

Confidence booster
Have you ever felt nervous before jumping off during bungee jumping? Or felt a lack of confidence and a sense of doubt standing at the base of a peak before setting out to scale it? Is it not a similar feeling you would get before accepting a new project or taking up a new assignment or shifting to a new department or any sort of change that is being proposed? And what happens when you have jumped off and are removing the harness or have scaled the peak and are now taking happy pictures? You feel confident and happy that you achieved something. You will never get those second thoughts the next time you set out on an adventure. You will similarly never feel those doubts creeping in when you get a new project or have something new or different to do. Embracing change boosts confidence unlike any other drug.

Change is inevitable. You either accept it or ignore it or avoid it, it will still happen. The best thing to do is to embrace it with open arms and grow.