Change Up

Why are we always looking for change?

What is it that leads to dissatisfaction? I find myself quoting Ryan Bingham again (from Up in the Air) "make no mistake- movement is life." What is it that won't let us stay with what we have?

In this morning's Washington Post there was a small poll at the bottom left corner. Q: Are you inclined to vote to reelect your representative in Congress or look for someone else? A: 57% said they would look for someone else. More than half the people polled want change. This is change for change sake - they have no idea what the other person would change, how he or she would propose to change anything, or even if the change would be positive or negative. People are naturally inclined to want change.

Obama tapped into this natural desire throughout his campaign. It was a very powerful and effective message. Change resonates. In our personal lives, we are also seeking change. Just look at the divorce rate, caused by wanting change, not changing enough, seeking change with someone other than your spouse.

Perhaps this sentiment is rooted in our bodies. For as much as we think we want to be sendentary, our bodies need movement. It doesn't have to be constant, but at some point we feel the need to move - even if it is just to stretch. Many people feel the need for some mode of exercise in their day/week/month. How many of us have felt "restless"?

The story of the Jews wandering in the desert gives us a glipse into this need. The distance between Egypt and Israel could have been covered in about three days. When the Jews are punished with being stranded in the desert for 40 years, why do they keep moving? Couldn't they have stayed in one camp for the whole time? Surely it would have been easier to set up a "town" and lived there for thirty nine years and 362 days. So why did they wander?

One answer might be this human need for movement. If the people remained in the same place, perhaps they would turn to other areas for their "movement." We do find that many times when the people are "stuck" they turn away from God. At the sea, they cry out to go back to Egypt. At the foot of Mount Sinai they build a golden calf. Maybe God learned from these events and knew that the people needed to keep moving physically in order to be stationary in their religious belief.

Leadership lesson: We are hard wired to seek out movement and change. If you are a leader, you can try to continually feed this need with positive change and forward movement. If you get stuck in a rut without advancement, people will create their own change and you might be one of the changes. Constantly keep a look out for change possibilities that lead toward your goal. Keep an eye on your movement ratio - change over length of time. Are the changes you are implementing felt by your constituency? Is it enough change? Is it the right change? Understand that if you wish to keep some stability in one area, you need to offer enough offsetting change in another.

Change will happen. In our professional and personal lives we can orchestrate the change or we can just let it happen to us.