Change is hard.
There’s no way around it. I talk a lot about embracing change, pursuing change, not fearing change, and so on; but no matter how you look at it, change is hard.
The very essence of change is to admit that you are wrong, and that there is a better way. And, unsurprisingly, most of us struggle with this.
I distinctly remember a number of occasions in my earlier life when I received correction from an instructor, parent, coach, or peer and consciously decided not to make the change at that moment, even though I knew they were right and I was wrong. Then, when I was on my own later on, I would quietly make the correction while no one was watching.
Whether it was explicitly pointed out to me or simply implied, my fault was laid out before me -- I recognized that there was a better way to do something -- but making that change required me to admit that I was wrong, and doing so in front of someone else meant admitting to them, “hey, I guess you’re right and I’m wrong.” A few parts stubbornness, a helping of ego, and the fact that I don’t particularly like being told what to do made this very hard for me to do, and I believe I’m not the only one to have felt such a sentiment.
What’s particularly interesting in these situations are the stories we spin in our heads to protect our delicate egos. We know, deep down, that we are wrong. We are conscious of the fact that there is a better way to do it. But we tell ourselves stories about why we don’t need to change.
“I’ve been doing it this way for a long time and I’m just fine, aren’t I? Why should I change now?”
“I’m different than them anyways, they don’t know how I work. I know this way is best for me.”
“I’ll probably get worse if I try something different. Safer just to stick with what I know for now and see what I can get out of it.”
A family member once told me a story about a meeting he had with his boss in which he suggested some changes in operations and the introduction of a new program, only to have his boss quickly shoot down these ideas. “We can’t do that. That’ll never work. How could that possibly work.” A few months later, in a large staff meeting, the same boss came in, excited to share some excellent new ideas that he wanted to implement. He laid out the plans to make the same changes that had been suggested to him months before in his office. But these ideas, of course, were now completely his own. My family member couldn’t help but sit there and chuckle to himself. It wasn’t even that this man was consciously ripping off ideas and claiming them as his own -- his ego, in an effort to protect itself and avoid admitting fault, had actually led him to convince himself that these ideas which he had claimed would “never work” just months earlier were actually his own excellent ideas.
Looking back, it would be quite frustrating to coach my younger self. I would see my young self leaving all kinds of potential untapped because I couldn’t handle admitting that I was wrong. The fact is, if you can’t face the fact that you’re going to be wrong sometimes, you’re going to have a hard time ever getting better.
There’s something quite freeing about realizing that you’re probably wrong about a lot of things, and that’s okay. If you truly want to get better, you'd better get ready to be wrong about a few things, because that’s the only way to make change. One might call this "being a student of the world." And not only should we be a student of the world, we should be a good student. This means opening yourself up to correction, from yourself, from others, from events and opportunities in life. Be the student you’d want to teach, and you're going to open the doors of development.
- Preston Sprimont
4 rounds for reps:
Rds 1&3
15s max cal bike
30s max C2B pull-ups
Rds 2&4
15s max cal bike
30s max ring dips
Rest approx 3 min between each round
3 rounds, for perfection:
2 rope ascents
4 strict ring pull-ups
6 strict toes to rings
8 reverse burpees
10 pistols (5/leg)
Posted on 12/01/2016 at 12:00 AM
