The Signs That Point to Change – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

How to read the signals around us and get ahead of change

Photo by Carlos Alberto Gómez Iñiguez on Unsplash

I don’t have a crystal ball, but over my short life I’ve learned to pick up certain signals around me and use them to make better decisions. I think we all hit stages we know we need to leave behind, and without realizing it, we stay stuck. Read on to learn more and to put it to work for you.

Some changes are unpredictable by nature, and others can be foreseen one way or another. How could I have known a year ago that my second son would be born premature and leave for heaven at 17 days old? It’s an extreme example of how unpredictable life is and how abrupt its changes can be. I never imagined it could happen, and neither my wife nor I had the faintest sign of what was coming.

At the other end is when everything around us is sending signals and we can’t see them, such as an impending job loss. In 4 signs your job could be in danger, Susan Peppercorn explains how a change in company leadership, being left out of key meetings or losing a sponsor who has always backed you are among the key signs that let you see a job loss coming in time.

So how do we learn to read what our environment is telling us? I believe the first step is acting in tune with who we are, which means making decisions aligned with our Life Purpose. Second is recognizing that the mind tends to simplify reality and narrows our view of the world around us. Third is learning to accept reality as it is.

I want to dwell on that third point. In El caballo volador, Julio S. Ramirez describes two principles that govern the mind and that have helped me enormously with decisions: the reality principle and the consistency principle. The reality principle says we can read what’s happening around us. Under the consistency principle, the mind works to keep its perceptions of the outside world consistent with one another.

I’ve come to see the consistency principle as the inner voice that keeps us from accepting reality. However obvious the signs that something inevitable is coming, it keeps us out of touch with reality and at war with our own mind. I’ve seen it in work teams, executives, colleagues, friends and even families. So-called resistance to change shows up partly as fear, but it starts as a dispute between reality (which we know full well is happening) and the voice that says "nothing’s happening and nothing will, relax".

Accepting reality has to go hand in hand with decisions aligned with our Life Purpose, as I mentioned. Much of the fear of accepting the inevitable comes from not being sure what the next step should be. The easy thing is to shut reality out, which takes no effort or energy. The hard part is pulling the mind out of its comfort zone and putting it to work finding solutions.

The beautiful thing is that the mind always finds a solution, and with luck those next steps lead to better decisions, a sense of security and calm, and above all the chance to get ahead of change.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: A conversation between Tony Robbins and Sophia. I admire and read Tony for his remarkable ability to guide people forward. His workshops are surprisingly good and worth attending. That’s why this interview amazed me. Tony is considered one of the best mentors and coaches in the world, which takes mastering many skills, including speaking in a way that reaches the hearts of the people he partners with. As I posted on my LinkedIn, the interview is wild and worth watching: the first humanoid robot talking about values, purpose and much more.
• What I’ve been Listening to: We don’t know how to be bored. At minute 11, philosopher José Carlos Ruiz shares the results of an experiment that stunned me. People are asked to stay alone in a room for 15 minutes and, on average, at minute 6, something surprising happens. It’s worth finding out what.
• What I’ve been Reading: Robots are transforming Wall Street. My friend and INCAE colleague German shared this article with me. I’m especially keen to keep researching how the digital revolution will hit jobs directly. Like the interview between Tony and Sophia, this article raises alarms: technological shifts are clear signs of change.
• What I’ve been Learning: Openness to everything we don’t know. An interview with writer Isabel Allende. I liked the part where she suggests a way to open ourselves to the unknown and, starting from imagination, build on the inspiration that openness brings.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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