Change

Can we ever say no to change?

Ever have one of those days when you figure one more change might push you over the edge? Maybe it’s a new form to complete, the latest software update, you found out that Hugh’s Room is closing, or for no apparent reason, your dog refuses to take his regular route to the park?

You’re not a Luddite. The truth is—your brain is conspiring against you. Those who study the neuroscience of change have proven that our brains are very effective at protecting the status quo. Survival, in fact, depends on our capacity not to change. Our brains want us to avoid any threats to what is expected because that is the safest thing to do – safe, that is, if we were in a jungle or on some desert island.

But even when we’re safe from lions and tigers and bears, we tend to resist even when it’s good for us.

Change is our middle name at Black Tulip

As a company that’s seen a lot of change over the years from handwritten ledgers to a bank where everybody knows your name, we’re positive about the effects most change has on our lives and our businesses.

One way to counteract resistance to change is to calmly convince our brains why change is good. So in the interest of embracing new processes, services, technology, and all things efficient and interesting, Black Tulip offers the following suggestions when you feel you just can’t take one more new adjustment to your routine:

Change ensures that life stays interesting

Ever see Ground Hog Day? Stuck in a time warp, Bill Murray exclaims, “I told you. I wake up every day, right here, right in Punxsutawney and it’s always February 2nd, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Deep down, our worst nightmare is being stuck in a world that just keeps repeating itself. Change makes sure this doesn’t happen.

Change leads to new opportunities and experiences.

Okay, so maybe you resisted Skype at first. But now you use it all the time to talk with friends, grandchildren, nieces, kids overseas. Maybe you had to change jobs and it turned out to be the best move ever. Or someone forced you to eat kale and you discovered you liked it (or you didn’t). Each change is an invitation to learn something new and expand your experiences.

Change gets rid of things that weren’t good in the first place.

There’s a self-adjusting nature to change. Change either gets rid of the mistakes or helps us move away from them. After all, electronic record-keepings makes ugly metal filing cabinets obsolete; wireless technology puts an end to those awkward moments under a desk untangling cords; and those sideburns and plaid pants from the 1970s – need we say more?

Change (usually) leads to progress.

There are countless examples through history where change does lead to true, measurable progress (think cars, vaccines, indoor plumbing). And remember trying to program a VCR machine? Thank goodness the tech geeks found a better way to record an entire movie and not just everything but the final scene.

Change gives our life a story

“Let me tell you about the good old days when telephones stayed in one place and you could tell a car’s age by the rust.” We tend to mark the passage of time with changes in our lives, not the things that have stayed the same. Change is what we talk about!

When we change, we adapt and move forward, when we don’t, we move backward

Can you ever say no to change? Yes, but ultimately, most change is good for us. Small steps are often best, gradually learning how something could be done differently, and then giving it a try. Before you know it, you don’t even consider the change as something new any more.

So give change a chance.

Black Tulip has helped many business owners put in small changes that have transformed business systems and processes—one step at a time!