Don’t Be the 5th Frog!

John Foster Dulles, Former Secretary of State Once said: “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”

And educator Roy Blitzer states that the “Two basic rules of life are these: (1) change is inevitable and (2) everybody resists change. The only person who likes change is a wet baby.” (Hilarious!)

We all enjoy doing things in life that ultimately create results for us, even when those results do not serve us with the best outcomes. On the same token, we expect better results yet resist anything new, which becomes the point when we crawl back into our safe havens where it is most safe and most comfortable.

At first this would not seem so absurd but it is quite true since the paradox is that, change is the only constant. Thus, in order for us to grow and evolve, we must learn to change and stretch beyond our comfort zone.

As an example, taking into consideration that you are comfortable with engaging in a specific activity such as your job that you’ve been in for the last 20 + years, then you are simply doing what you’ve already been doing for the last 20 + years, which is producing the exact same results as the year before this (or decade for this matter) and so on and so forth.

Conversely, if you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone and just do something that will make you uncomfortable; a new skill, activity, strategy, talent; then what do you think will happen? You WILL produce new and innovative outcomes! And how do you suppose that would lead you to feel?

My point? If it is uncomfortable, it more than likely means that you’re doing the right thing and it’s the quickest course to greater success and accomplishments. Need I say, “Don’t stop, keep it up!”? Maintain your competitive edge, get comfortable with being uncomfortable and embrace change.

Think of it in this light: It is healthy to embrace and respond to the new normal.

Today is the day to reevaluate and refine your strategy and approach.

Here is a final question to you posed by Mark L. Feldman. There are five frogs sitting comfortably on a log and one decides to jump off. How many frogs are left? The answer is five. There are five frogs left sitting on the log because there’s a difference between deciding and doing.

Don’t be the fifth frog that decided NOT to take that “leap of faith” if you will. Make the decision to EMBRACE CHANGE instead of simply embracing your good intentions that have no action to drive them.

Like

Unlike