Post by Trade Coach on Jan 21, 2017 9:22:14 GMT 1
Tokunbo and Anuoluwapo are two young chaps in their late thirties. They have both but individually worked hard to attain heights of an enviable statue. Sooner, they got carried away by share pride. Both began to lose touch with friends and colleagues of same career lines, without realizing it, they were
gradually slipping out of their friends sights, because they still had their jobs with fantastic pay intact.
One faithful day, reality struck; their juicy jobs were no more! Having lost touch with contemporary professional demands, their employers considered them outdated. Times had changed after all and, worst of it all, at the time they least anticipated.
Their reactions were different. Anuoluwapo began to curse and swear, blaming it on everyone and everything. He began to sulk his exuberances and confidence left him. He was not ready to launch into fresh search. He refused to move on with the hope that things would return back to normal. Frequently, he would check on his former employer in the hope that one day they would have change of heart.
But on the contrary, Tokunbo braced himself up, put on his shoes and launched himself back into a determined hunt for another opportunity. For Tokunbo, there was nothing stopping him from securing another better opportunity.
CHANGE
Change is an alteration, a variation or modification in the normal state of affairs. It can also be described as the only constant thing in life hence the saying, ``everything changes except change itself’’. It comes to individuals and/ or a group unexpectedly but at some point, it is anticipated.
Whichever way it comes, studies have shown that change is most resisted, if not fought against by many. The reason is obviously not-far-fetched as people often find change disorienting. It creates anxiety akin to shock, making somebody feel like uneasy visitors to an alien land because of the absence of the familiar. When change comes unexpectedly, it hits like a thunder bolt. It has demoralizing, if not paralyzing effects. When change comes knocking it pays to be like Tokunbo – look beyond the fuggy present, see it as a fact of life and cooperate with the reality rather than revisit it. And you can expect that it will result in significant improvement. That can only be if change is properly managed.
COPING WITH CHANGE
As a proverb goes, ``every change brings an opportunity’’. In other words, we must see change as a means of achieving our goals, not a barrier preventing us from reaching there. So, rejecting both alternatives of flight or fight, it is better to seek an option that neither avoids change nor resists it, but harnessed and guide it.
Keep your expectations realistic. A vital part of taking control of the change you experience is to set expectations.
While optimism is encouraged, experts advise that those expectations should be realistically attained.
In the two examples, Tokunbo approached change with a positive attitude and saw it as another door that leads to another opportunity to grow and achieve better results. Sadly, in the case of Anuoluwapo his friend, he chose another path, a direct opposite, arriving at an undesirable destination.