The academic summer camp for teens and pre-teens, SuperCamp, tells
students to get off what's not working. Shift perspectives. Maintain
the ability to change what you're doing to get the outcome you desire.
Flexibility is being prepared for change and having the willingness
to do things differently. If a strategy is not working, try something
different until you find something that does work. Many times every day
you face situations that look different from what you had planned. You
could be rigid and continue to do things the same way over and over. Or
you could be flexible and respond by adapting to the changing
situation. Which response is more likely to produce your desired
outcome in the long run?
Go on — make a change — try something different
People in their eighties and nineties looking back at their long
lives have said that their regrets are more often about the
opportunities for change they didn’t take than the ones they did. More
often than not, change pays off. Hockey player Wayne Gretzky put it
this way: “You miss 100% of the goals you never try for.”
Then why don’t people make more changes? What keeps people from
trying new things? Comfort? Convenience? Fear of the unknown? Using old
methods feels easier—even though it often isn’t.
How well do you handle change? Do you hold on to old ways of doing
things even when you know they don’t work? We all do sometimes. It’s
not easy to recognize or admit when something isn’t working. Some
people routinely fight against change. You’ve probably known rigid,
inflexible people who refuse to adapt to new circumstances. But let me
ask you: How many highly successful rigid people do you know?
What’s flexibility? It’s the capability to adapt to new or changing
situations to obtain the outcome you want. It’s the ability to get off
what’s not working and find what does work. And it’s a prime ingredient
of a successful life in a changing world.
Why Flexibility?
Every day we face situations that are different from what we
expected or planned. But we do have choices when this occurs. We can be
rigid and stick with a set of behaviors that no longer fit the plan—or
we can adapt and handle the situation with flexibility. We all know
that life does not follow a rigid plan. It’s fluid, dynamic, and
ever-changing. Staying flexible means having the courage and openness
to change when your situation changes.
Every aspect of our lives demands flexibility. You’re running six
mornings a week to train for a tennis tournament but you sprain your
ankle; instead of giving up, you swim in the mornings until you heal.
You’ve planned lunch with an old friend at an upscale bistro, but when
you learn that she’s bringing her four small kids you opt instead for a
burger restaurant with a play area for kids. You’re planting a bed of
red roses and need six more to finish, but your local nursery is out of
the red variety—you alternate red with white. You get a great
promotion, but at the same time your mother falls ill, so you defer
your job change for three months so you can take care of her, but while
you're there you study to prepare for your new position. Life can
require flexibility in the greatest and smallest of situations.
Be ready to change what you’re doing to reach your goals
Flexibility challenges you to let go of what’s not working and try
new things until you hit upon what does work. It’s hard to
recognize—even harder to admit—when something’s not working. You’ve
invested time, money, pride—and you’ve convinced yourself it has to
work. To become flexible, develop the ability to recognize when it’s
time to let go of an unworkable method and try something different.
It’s hard on the ego, but until you admit you’ve got a problem, you
can’t take the next step.
Try these steps to move toward greater flexibility:
• First, you have to accept the reality of change. Recognize that it’s
normal to change the way you do things because it's inevitable that
circumstances change. It’s nothing personal—it’s just the nature of
life. The best plans in the world can become impractical or obsolete.
Make it okay for something not to work.
• Second, in order to let go of things that aren’t working, learn
to detach your ego. We get our pride wrapped up in our methods—we take
the need for change as a personal attack on our intelligence or our
ability. Or sometimes we just get stubbornly attached to our way of
doing things because it’s “our way.” Make sure your ego doesn’t get in
the way of your flexibility. Save ego for the results, not the means.
Take your work, not yourself, seriously. What you want is more
important than looking good.
• Third, challenge your assumptions. In order to see when change is
needed, you have to become conscious of your beliefs about a situation.
Don’t judge (and condemn) alternate paths before you’ve tried them. To
increase awareness of your assumptions, become a rigorous questioner of
your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Question your authority! Learn to
ask yourself, “Why do I think that?”
• Finally, learn to recognize the difference between a plan that’s
not working and a temporary setback. When things are not going well it
could be because the method is bad and doomed to fail, or it may simply
be a momentary pause in a massive upswing. How will you know the
difference? Your gut will tell you. Tune in to your gut, then measure
your results.
New ideas don’t come to those with closed minds. When you realize
it’s time to reformulate your actions, break yourself wide open. Start
by promising yourself to be wide open to new thoughts. Learn to suspend
your assumptions and listen without judgment. Brainstorm. Branch out.
Get creative. Explore as many possible solutions as you can. By
throwing yourself open to the possibilities, you’ll discover avenues
for success that you would never have considered before. You might even
find ways to improve things that are working.
If you want to experience whole-life success, learn to dance with
change. To succeed, you have to look for ways to make everything
better. Suspend your assumptions, seek new ground, throw yourself
headlong into the unknown.
Borrow ideas from other subjects, other applications. If you can
find wisdom in the way a violin is tuned, that same method may apply to
the way an annual report is written. If the patrol method used by
Canadian geese to safeguard their flocks works for them, the same
method might work to keep a group of nine-year-olds safe on a camping
trip. Be willing to cross borders, mix and match, move methods from one
application to another, and stand them on their heads.
Don’t fall back into rigidity if you find a possible solution and
it doesn't work. If the old method wasn’t the method, this new one
might not be it either. Be ready to try several new methods! Assign a
deadline to the experiment and give it all you’ve got for the duration.
If, in that time, it yields few results, let it go.
Complacency is the enemy of success. When you get comfortable, you stop
moving forward. You dig in, shut down, doze off, disengage. Your spirit
falls asleep. If complacency is the enemy of success, change is its
best friend. Change wakes you up, gets you on your feet, and engages
you.
But change for its own sake isn’t what I’m talking about here. It
doesn’t work to simply change things randomly. The rule of thumb when
it comes to change is to keep what’s working—and let go of what’s not.
Commit to Flexibility – it's fun, and it works!
When you commit to Flexibility, you’ll discover a side
benefit—life’s more fun when you're flexible! Being open to change as
you meet the unknown can be a thrill! A friend who’s president of a
state university told me he knows he’s on track, moving things forward,
when he feels a bit of fear. Do you sometimes find yourself tingling
with fear? Do you experience that heightened sense of alertness and
readiness that comes with facing change? Excellent! That’s how you know
you’re flexible enough to enjoy the challenge of change—and the success
it brings.
Affirmations for FLEXIBILITY:
• I challenge my assumptions in order to see when change is needed.
• When something isn't working, I try another way.
• I change strategies whenever it's necessary to attain my goals.
"When you're through changing, you're through." —Bruce Barton
SuperCamp summer programs fill up fast. Parents, go to http://www.SuperCamp.com
now to learn about enrolling your son or daughter while space remains.
Age-specific programs are available for students in grades 4-12 and
incoming college freshmen. At the website, you also can get a free
eBook that gives you an inside look at what works with teens from a
world leader in youth achievement, SuperCamp co-founder Bobbi DePorter.
students to get off what's not working. Shift perspectives. Maintain
the ability to change what you're doing to get the outcome you desire.
Flexibility is being prepared for change and having the willingness
to do things differently. If a strategy is not working, try something
different until you find something that does work. Many times every day
you face situations that look different from what you had planned. You
could be rigid and continue to do things the same way over and over. Or
you could be flexible and respond by adapting to the changing
situation. Which response is more likely to produce your desired
outcome in the long run?
Go on — make a change — try something different
People in their eighties and nineties looking back at their long
lives have said that their regrets are more often about the
opportunities for change they didn’t take than the ones they did. More
often than not, change pays off. Hockey player Wayne Gretzky put it
this way: “You miss 100% of the goals you never try for.”
Then why don’t people make more changes? What keeps people from
trying new things? Comfort? Convenience? Fear of the unknown? Using old
methods feels easier—even though it often isn’t.
How well do you handle change? Do you hold on to old ways of doing
things even when you know they don’t work? We all do sometimes. It’s
not easy to recognize or admit when something isn’t working. Some
people routinely fight against change. You’ve probably known rigid,
inflexible people who refuse to adapt to new circumstances. But let me
ask you: How many highly successful rigid people do you know?
What’s flexibility? It’s the capability to adapt to new or changing
situations to obtain the outcome you want. It’s the ability to get off
what’s not working and find what does work. And it’s a prime ingredient
of a successful life in a changing world.
Why Flexibility?
Every day we face situations that are different from what we
expected or planned. But we do have choices when this occurs. We can be
rigid and stick with a set of behaviors that no longer fit the plan—or
we can adapt and handle the situation with flexibility. We all know
that life does not follow a rigid plan. It’s fluid, dynamic, and
ever-changing. Staying flexible means having the courage and openness
to change when your situation changes.
Every aspect of our lives demands flexibility. You’re running six
mornings a week to train for a tennis tournament but you sprain your
ankle; instead of giving up, you swim in the mornings until you heal.
You’ve planned lunch with an old friend at an upscale bistro, but when
you learn that she’s bringing her four small kids you opt instead for a
burger restaurant with a play area for kids. You’re planting a bed of
red roses and need six more to finish, but your local nursery is out of
the red variety—you alternate red with white. You get a great
promotion, but at the same time your mother falls ill, so you defer
your job change for three months so you can take care of her, but while
you're there you study to prepare for your new position. Life can
require flexibility in the greatest and smallest of situations.
Be ready to change what you’re doing to reach your goals
Flexibility challenges you to let go of what’s not working and try
new things until you hit upon what does work. It’s hard to
recognize—even harder to admit—when something’s not working. You’ve
invested time, money, pride—and you’ve convinced yourself it has to
work. To become flexible, develop the ability to recognize when it’s
time to let go of an unworkable method and try something different.
It’s hard on the ego, but until you admit you’ve got a problem, you
can’t take the next step.
Try these steps to move toward greater flexibility:
• First, you have to accept the reality of change. Recognize that it’s
normal to change the way you do things because it's inevitable that
circumstances change. It’s nothing personal—it’s just the nature of
life. The best plans in the world can become impractical or obsolete.
Make it okay for something not to work.
• Second, in order to let go of things that aren’t working, learn
to detach your ego. We get our pride wrapped up in our methods—we take
the need for change as a personal attack on our intelligence or our
ability. Or sometimes we just get stubbornly attached to our way of
doing things because it’s “our way.” Make sure your ego doesn’t get in
the way of your flexibility. Save ego for the results, not the means.
Take your work, not yourself, seriously. What you want is more
important than looking good.
• Third, challenge your assumptions. In order to see when change is
needed, you have to become conscious of your beliefs about a situation.
Don’t judge (and condemn) alternate paths before you’ve tried them. To
increase awareness of your assumptions, become a rigorous questioner of
your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Question your authority! Learn to
ask yourself, “Why do I think that?”
• Finally, learn to recognize the difference between a plan that’s
not working and a temporary setback. When things are not going well it
could be because the method is bad and doomed to fail, or it may simply
be a momentary pause in a massive upswing. How will you know the
difference? Your gut will tell you. Tune in to your gut, then measure
your results.
New ideas don’t come to those with closed minds. When you realize
it’s time to reformulate your actions, break yourself wide open. Start
by promising yourself to be wide open to new thoughts. Learn to suspend
your assumptions and listen without judgment. Brainstorm. Branch out.
Get creative. Explore as many possible solutions as you can. By
throwing yourself open to the possibilities, you’ll discover avenues
for success that you would never have considered before. You might even
find ways to improve things that are working.
If you want to experience whole-life success, learn to dance with
change. To succeed, you have to look for ways to make everything
better. Suspend your assumptions, seek new ground, throw yourself
headlong into the unknown.
Borrow ideas from other subjects, other applications. If you can
find wisdom in the way a violin is tuned, that same method may apply to
the way an annual report is written. If the patrol method used by
Canadian geese to safeguard their flocks works for them, the same
method might work to keep a group of nine-year-olds safe on a camping
trip. Be willing to cross borders, mix and match, move methods from one
application to another, and stand them on their heads.
Don’t fall back into rigidity if you find a possible solution and
it doesn't work. If the old method wasn’t the method, this new one
might not be it either. Be ready to try several new methods! Assign a
deadline to the experiment and give it all you’ve got for the duration.
If, in that time, it yields few results, let it go.
Complacency is the enemy of success. When you get comfortable, you stop
moving forward. You dig in, shut down, doze off, disengage. Your spirit
falls asleep. If complacency is the enemy of success, change is its
best friend. Change wakes you up, gets you on your feet, and engages
you.
But change for its own sake isn’t what I’m talking about here. It
doesn’t work to simply change things randomly. The rule of thumb when
it comes to change is to keep what’s working—and let go of what’s not.
Commit to Flexibility – it's fun, and it works!
When you commit to Flexibility, you’ll discover a side
benefit—life’s more fun when you're flexible! Being open to change as
you meet the unknown can be a thrill! A friend who’s president of a
state university told me he knows he’s on track, moving things forward,
when he feels a bit of fear. Do you sometimes find yourself tingling
with fear? Do you experience that heightened sense of alertness and
readiness that comes with facing change? Excellent! That’s how you know
you’re flexible enough to enjoy the challenge of change—and the success
it brings.
Affirmations for FLEXIBILITY:
• I challenge my assumptions in order to see when change is needed.
• When something isn't working, I try another way.
• I change strategies whenever it's necessary to attain my goals.
"When you're through changing, you're through." —Bruce Barton
SuperCamp summer programs fill up fast. Parents, go to http://www.SuperCamp.com
now to learn about enrolling your son or daughter while space remains.
Age-specific programs are available for students in grades 4-12 and
incoming college freshmen. At the website, you also can get a free
eBook that gives you an inside look at what works with teens from a
world leader in youth achievement, SuperCamp co-founder Bobbi DePorter.
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