Finding balance in a new schedule may take you longer than you hope. Transitions take a lot of energy, so hold your plans lightly and remember to offer yourself compassion. COVID-19 has people entering a massive transition, so here are three key principles to help navigate change processes in individuals, groups, organizations, societies, and this moment.
Your initial plans will need to change as you adapt to a new reality.
After you make plans to change something major, you may notice that your critical voice chimes in to critique when your efforts aren't going as planned. That’s the judge who like things consistent in your life, even those things that don’t serve you in the long run. And while much this judge offers is not helpful, you may feel a ring of truth in its voice.
When I found out that I would be housebound during a pandemic, I tried to get myself excited about jumping into a physical exercise schedule to best use my time. But by the second day of this new schedule, my whole body wanted to crash and sleep. This extra sleep was not in my plan, and my judge voice kept saying how I should be doing my exercises and highlighting my failure.
So I paused, meditated, and reflected on what I had been doing. My body needed to adjust internally to this new reality, so of course I needed more sleep than usual. Shifting plans to tend to what arises, allowed me to get rest and a couple weeks later begin exercising regularly.
A similar process happened as I was coaching an business to integrate equity and inclusion. When I was facilitating a change team meeting, one white executive shouted in anger when things weren’t going as quickly as planned. So I paused the meeting to ask people how others thought things were going.
Change team members spoke up and challenged the executive's anger and urgency, which had silenced staff members for years. They did some unexpected internal work and changed the executive's staff role, which increased trust of their process among the organization.
When you tend to what’s emerging, it may feel like you’re going off course. But adapting to shifting circumstances will help you navigate change and achieve your goal more effectively than you initially expected.
Highlight what is staying the same
Major changes in your routine take a lot of energy, and can leave you feeling tired and irritable more quickly than you expect. You are asking your body to move to a new rhythm, and the human body needs a moment to catch up.
A different way to orient during massive change is a scale.
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Continuous New
Write down 5 activities that you want to take on to help you transition. Then mark down which of those activities feel like they are continuing something you are currently doing, and which feel new.
When I was coaching a youth worker who was starting a business, and she was overwhelmed by the prospect of taking on new work. So we worked to identify what could stay the same in this transition: keeping a second job for consistent income and daily time with her family. This helped her slow down and transition her whole life to the new business, instead of jumping in and feeling destabilized.
If you go quickly into a new way of being, it’s can destabilize you internally. Keeping some thing things the same can provide anchors for you to be able to perceive and celebrate change.
Track the small details to see change
Before you see the full results of the change you are pursuing, lots of small things will change. Tracking these small details provides hope that your greater goal will be achieved.
As people challenged South African apartheid, the system did not crumble right away. However, every time states and organizations divested from South African, it increased the momentum toward change. If people ignored these smaller changes, it would have been harder to notice that the system was crumbling.
This is true for internal processes as well. My pandemic exercise plan did not begin as I initially envisions. It started with 5 minutes of stretching a couple times a week, then a half hour once a week, and now is a daily exercise routine.
When you stop only measuring your success by your final goal, you allow yourself to build up momentum to achieve a goal. So what’s the 1 small thing you are doing toward achieving your goals today?
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