To Adapt or not to Adapt, that is the question

As I've discovered, many business owners are resistant to change and find it difficult to adapt, even when one could argue that doing so would be in their best interest. I’ve heard “I’m stuck” which I’m sure is not only frustrating but certainly not a state in which one wants to remain. So what does it take to get unstuck? It’s an interesting question that I don’t think has an easy or simple answer. As one wise mentor once told me, “You’re not ready until you’re ready.”

Certainly understanding and acknowledging that you’re not where you want to be can be helpful because the root of all improvement is discontent. However, we’re all creatures of habit and developing new strategies for success can be difficult. For example, sometimes we’re victims of inertia and don’t want to do what it takes to develop solutions. Or we don’t want to fixate on a problem and take the time to be creative. Creativity is not an efficient process and our manic culture generally doesn’t allow us the time to indulge in it. Others don’t want to take responsibility and in some cases are actually conditioned not to. For example, if you have a medical problem you go to a doctor. Deferring to an expert can be a great idea but you have to take the initiative to seek them out, and then find the resolve to do what they prescribe. And that can be daunting if you feel the “cure” will be unpleasant or even worse, ineffective.

I’ve read that the root cause of plane crashes can be attributed to what I’ll paraphrase as, the “gotta get there” syndrome. In essence it boils down to the pilot(s) being so emotionally invested in getting to a destination that they are literally unwilling to adapt or change, regardless of the mounting evidence that they should. And we’ve all been guilty of this; taking dubious chances even though you’d hope that logic would prevail. An example is driving when you’re at risk of falling at sleep which apparently 30% of people admit to doing within the previous year. And it could just as easily be talking on a cell phone or a myriad of other things that could potentially put us in harm’s way. And when we get away with it, it just reinforces that we can take these risks even though, logically, we know that you can only roll the dice so many times before eventually losing.

And maybe unsurprisingly, it doesn’t need to make sense logically. We make decisions emotionally. It’s about how we feel. We don’t like to give up because emotionally we’d rather seek reward instead. Plus we know that success correlates with effort and that having the endurance to stick it out can make the difference. The reward seeking phenomenon is a very well documented process within the brain that in the extreme can lead to addictions which, of course, has all sorts of negative connotations. Bottom line is not all commitment is good. So how do we differentiate when it’s good or not? Again, using logic seems an obvious choice but we have to remember our propensity not to. For example, it’s pretty normal for people to ride stocks down in the hopes of recovery versus selling to cut losses. Loss aversion is a very strong motivator when dealing with uncertainty and risk. Similarly, people don’t want to abandon their businesses even when bankruptcy is inevitable. So what is appropriate risk? When is it best to change? We have to keep in mind that we’re all human and make mistakes so we’re not always going to make the best choices. Still, we can strive for improvement while keeping in mind our personal comfort zone.

To overcome obstacles, my recommendation is be adaptable and:

• Give yourself permission to think about it. You’re probably not a pilot. The consequence of needing to be immediately right is unlikely to be fatal.
• Remember that doing nothing is still making a choice but not normally the best one.
• Don’t ignore that nagging feeling in your gut. Let it be a signal to you to start thinking about your options.
• Get in the habit of asking yourself, “What improvement(s) can I make ?” If the answer is nothing, then think about how to minimize losses.
• Give yourself permission to seek support. Take time to consider different perspectives, it’ll help with the creative process.
• If what you’re doing isn’t working, then try something else. If it was easy anybody could do it.
• Give yourself permission to fail. Failure is a great teacher and learning takes practice.