You Have To Change
Posted: February 19th, 2009 | Author: eetion | Filed under: changing | Comments OffAn interesting thing happened today. I was reading my feeds as I normally do in google reader, and stumbled across a post which talked about the "missing links" – that is, a reply to the idea I’m successful, but I’m not where I want to be yet, what’s stopping me? The post hit home so I decided to star it and save it for later.
Today, some time after I read the previously mentioned article, I thought, yeah, you have to be the change to see the change. And then I remembered that last night, I stayed up way too late watching a movie about Gandhi. Later on during the day I thought, yah know what, the best example of that phrase that I can imagine is Gandhi. Then, I decided to google up the phrase "you have to be the change", and the first result that popped up was about Gandhi – "You have to be the change that you want to see in the world," sayeth Gandhi. I don’t remember hearing that quote during the movie, although I was on an old ibm tablet that has really bad sound.
At any rate, that little coincidence was helpful for me because it brought a perfect picture to the idea of being the change. Here’s a clip from the movie just incase you haven’t yet seen it (note – music was added to this clip):
Gandhi, who was a lawyer before he became the "Father of The Nation [of India]", completely changed his life to see that same change in the world. He went from a suit to a loincloth, on purpose. He did this in pursuit of his end goal which was to liberate India. In doing that, Gandhi achieved something even greater. He influenced nations! I bet he didn’t know that he was one of Martin Luther King’s heroes. "Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics." Martin Luther King said that in 1953, and we all know the difference that Mr. King made in America.
Be The Change For Yourself
Knowing that we have to be the change to see the change, we also need to realize that we have to be the change for ourselves and not just for others. Although we may see the desired change in our mind, we have to bring that foresight to the playing field of life and be the change. Only then will we see the change materialized as opposed to just seeing it in our minds.
My favorite quote for the aforementioned article is “To live a different life requires that you become a different person.” That speaks volumes. The emphasis there is that you have to change.
You have to change the way you think, the way you act, the food you eat, the clothes you buy, the words that come out of your mouth, the books you read, the way you look at the world, the music you listen to – it call comes down to your end goal, which determines what, if anything, will need to change in order for you to reach it.
Think of the you in the present and then think of the you in the future. What’s different then, in the future, compared to now? If you can answer that, you know what needs to change.
Change Things Around You
A quick way to get the ball rolling is to change your environment, to assist you towards the future rather than hold you back. If you keep doing the same things you’re doing now, reading the same books you read now, watching the same movies you watch now, dressing the same way you do now, thinking the same way you do now, acting the same way you do now, carrying yourself the same way you do now, guess what. You’re going to be the same person you are now.
I remember reading The Teenagers Guide to The Real World awhile back –what a great book. There’s a chapter in there which talks about wearing a suit as a college student. This chapter is a great example of how changing your environment around you, even just changing the types of clothes that you wear, can have a huge effect on how you see yourself, how you feel, and how others see you. Here’s an excerpt from the book:
Buy a good, conservative suit. That means a darker color like charcoal or dark blue. Get a nice shirt, a nice tie and nice, shineable shoes. Now wear this outfit all the time, every day, everywhere you go, for a month. I am not kidding. It will take you a week at least to feel comfortable in it. It will take another week for you to forget you have it on. Your friends will harass you mercilessly for a period of time as well. Ignore them. Tell them you are trying an experiment. During the third and fourth week, after you and everyone around you have settled down, watch the difference a suit makes in how people treat you and how you feel. It will be subtle, but you will notice it. You will find that people you know, especially adults, treat you differently. You will find that strangers treat you differently as well. They treat you with a different level of respect. You will find that a suit also changes what you say and how you act. It is very surprising.
If you were to wear a suit everyday for a month, how would YOU feel? You might feel richer. Is that how you’d like to feel? How would YOUR friends react? Maybe your friends would start to look at you differently. But, that’s ok, you’re changing. Don’t let your friends of the previous you hold the future you back.
What can you do now to change and get that much closer to your goals? Go ahead, pull out the pen and paper and list out your ideas. Maybe you need to change your habits or make new ones? Maybe you just need to change your hairstyle? It’s definitely worth your time to identify things in your life that can be changed in order to bring you closer to your goals.