5 Smart strategies to help you overcome changes in work/life
Let us start with a very interesting story. Its worth reading!
This story takes place in a maze, there were 4 characters in a maze, Named Hem and Haw, Sniff and Scurry.
All 4 for them, search for and consume cheese. The “cheese” here represents happiness, satisfaction, or any other worldly desires — wealth, security, money, etc. However, Sniff and Scurry are mice, and they take a simple and uncomplicated, Trial and error approach to look for their cheese, They try out different routes until they find a large pile of cheese. On the other hand, Hem and Haw are little-sized humans, who use their beliefs, past experiences, complex brain, and analytical search skills to discover their cheese. They too, find the large pile of cheese.
but, here’s the main plot, each of the pairs, have different attitudes towards their situation. Hem and Haw, took the cheese for granted, assuming that it will always be there. Sniff and Scurry take notice of the small changes they find with the cheese, it gets smaller and starts tasting different.
Then finally, one day, The cheese is gone. while Sniff and Scurry do not overcomplicate things by blaming their environment and yelling as if someone would put the cheese back, they put on their shoes and without wasting much time, go for the search of New cheese. on the other hand, Hem and Haw freezes by the shock of what they saw, they could not believe their eyes. Hem shouted “who moved my cheese!?”. they felt entitled and blamed the world for its unfairness. they sat around, waiting for the cheese to reappear.
Haw, tired of ever-growing hunger, now took a different approach. he learned that his situation won’t change unless he changes his behavior and attitude. although the thought of going out in the maze and finding cheese appeared scary and awful, he imagined a vision of “new cheese” and the joy it would bring, he kept moving forward and fought with psychological barriers and fears. he regrets not moving forward quickly but eventually found the large stock of cheese out there, bigger than ever. Sniff and Scurry were already there, with their fat tummies. besides, Hem still could not accept the change, and let go of his fears, kept waiting and blaming.
This valuable story “WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?”, gives us options of becoming like Haw and Hem, complain and unaware of the changes and and denying it cause we are afraid, or becoming like Sniff and Scurry, staying on our toes, preparing for future change, not overanalyzing things, and being ready to adapt without fear.
keep reading, to discuss some of the smart strategies we can adapt to become Sniff and Scurry of our lives, and win in every battle life throws upon us!
#1 LET GO OF THE PAST
When things change, move faster. the longer you will wait, the harder it will be to adapt later. search for your “cheese” and let go of any “what ifs”.
in the story, Sniff and Scurry were action-takers. they immediately started searching for ‘new cheese’. it helped that they kept things simple, did not overcomplicate or overanalyze anything. they knew that The world is changed, and They had to change with it.
#2 PREPARE FOR CHANGE
Be aware of your environment, take notice of how things are changing in your work life or personal life. pay close attention to such signs and how potentially they could affect you, then make plans to handle them. for example- by learning new skills.
in the story, Sniff and Scurry were noticing the changes in the cheese, it was getting smaller and old. and they prepared (they kept their running shoes handy) and when it disappeared, rather than feeling entitled towards it, they quickly moved on and searched for new cheese.
#3 HANDLE YOUR FEARS
Fear can either serve as your friend, or your enemy. it can fuel you in 2 ways 1) fear might stop you from taking any action if you keep thinking about what could go wrong 2) it can fuel you if you fear worse things could happen if you don’t do something about your situation. the second fear is healthy and action-oriented.
in the story, initially, Haw was afraid of going out in the maze and not finding any cheese there. but then he also would not find any by staying still. when we asked, “what would I do if I weren’t afraid”? and took control of his own attitude and behavior, that was the end of his fear.
#4 LEARN TO ENJOY CHANGE
change is not inevitable, it could not be avoided. change is the universal law of life. on the bright side, change brings you something new, new opportunities, new experiences, new discoveries that are rewarding. you might enjoy and like those new better things change brings rather than being afraid!
in the story, Haw regrets not moving on quicker, but once he did, he started feeling better about his situation rather than feeling helpless. and as you already know, the new discovery and experiences Haw came across were highly rewarding.
#5 IMAGINE SUCCESS
envisioning what success looks like and seeing yourself succeeding, can improve your attitude, it helps you think about what could go right rather than all of the worse things you imagine could happen. remember, a situation isn’t as worse as we imagine it to be! when you think about what you can gain instead of what you can lose, you realize you do can change for the better!
#BONUS
Be prepared for continuous change. change should only surprise you if you are not attentive and aware or if you’re operating on erroneous assumptions — for instance, that you’re entitled to having things a certain way.
at the end of the story, Sniff and Scurry, including Haw continued to explore the different new parts of the maze so to prepare for change!
