By Marty Wilson
Charles Darwin, the father of evolution theory, born 200 years ago this year, said: It's not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most adaptive to change. (I can hear the readers now: "Change! Um-aaaah! He said the C-Word.")
Change is hard on all of us. I'm a pharmacist turned copywriter, turned stand up comic, turned wine writer, turned Author and Speaker and I still find change incredibly challenging. If you ever see anyone stand up and brag: "I love change. Change scares me not! I am The Change Master." Point at them, giggle and say "Liar liar, you're nervous, skidmarked- pants are on fire."
This is because we human beings have evolved to love certainty. When something is familiar we feel relaxed and confident. When we're trying something different this Neanderthal part of our brain, called the amygdale, releases a surge of adrenaline that gives us sweaty palms and a tight feeling deep in our gut. Some people call this sensation fear or butterflies or knots in the stomach, sadly others call it "that thing that stops me learning a language/starting a business/phoning that girl.
To help you through, here are my three rock solid, cast iron, facts about change that, if should you wrap your head around them, will take you halfway to thinking about how the current period of economic instability is a launching pad instead of a crash site…
Please understand I'm not saying. 'Life is full of change' or 'Change is such a big part of life'.
No. Life is change. Change is the true nature of existence. So sure, read all those books that say: "Change Your Life Today". As long as you know that it'll change again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after…
Life is change. Change is life. Your cheese is always being moved. Your iceberg is always melting. And the times they're always a'changing.
Bill Murray started out doing movies like Caddyshack, he took some risks and Lost in Translation won him an Oscar nomination. Chevy Chase started out doing movies like Caddyshack and is still doing movies like Caddyshack.
For a business case study, let's compare Radio network Triple M with Apple Computers. Both launched in the '80s as great challenger brands flipping the bird to the big boys, shaking up their industry. 25 years later? Apple is still innovating and leading and Triple M is still playing a 'Non-stop block of Classic Rock'. Triple M keeps waiting for a convenient time to evolve. But…
There is never a time when things are just hunky dory, all your ducks are in a row – in every sphere of your life – and you can sit down, have a big deep breath then say: "Right. What's next?" You will always have problems. The trick in life is to make sure your problems are worth having. Life throws all sorts of things at us that give us great big doses of adrenaline whether you seek it or not. So we may as well choose some evolution that pushes us towards our goals.
The first thing we have to do is reframe this surge of adrenaline we all get from being out of our comfort zone. Many years ago, an advertising mate, John O'Connor and I started calling this sensation 'Newfeeling'. In the same way that you feel hot when you walk into a hot room, when you walk outside your comfort zone you get newfeeling. It's not good or bad, just different.
I know it seems like a small thing to do. Sometimes when I say it out loud it even seems like an incredibly … thing to do. But the Philosopher Wittgenstein said: "The limits of one's language are the limits of one's world." The number of ways you can talk about something determines the number of ways you can think about something.
So change the word, change the meaning and change the feeling,
And I can picture some of the furrowed brows reading this magazine, thinking "Cute word. But what good is it?" When you allow yourself to feel the adrenaline without attaching words like fear or scared or nerves to it, you don't beat yourself up so much. You even start to welcome it as a sign you're stretching yourself and growing your business. Before your first day at a new job, you don't have knots on your stomach -- you have newfeeling. Of course you do, it's a new job. Before a sales call, you're not scared or nervous, you've got newfeeling. Walking into the big new business pitch you can say to your team "I think my undies are full of newfeeling."
The best thing about this sensation in our gut is that it unerringly points to things we could be doing to more fully express who we are. Each of us has a totally different combination of gifts and skills that makes our unique destiny possible. And the best way to find it is look around, consider your options, then do the thing that gives you the biggest knots in your stomach. Grab life with both sweaty palms.
It seems un-Australian to talk about your fear at all, let alone reframing your fear and calling it newfeeling. But it works. It's worked for me for 10 years. It worked so well for my son on his first day of school, he could explain it to his friends and it worked for them.
Don't 'feel the fear and do it anyway', get the newfeeling and do it gladly.
Life is a short, precious gift. Don't let that underdeveloped Neanderthal part of your brain convince you to spend life inside your cave.
If life has a flavour it is not Ham & Pineapple.
If life has a motto it is not 'Same again thanks'.
If life has a soundtrack it is not a 'Non-stop block of '80s Rock'.
Let's do Darwin proud and chase down some evolution.
Marty Wilson is an Author & Speaker.
marty@martywilson.com.au; newfeeling.org
