Each Monday, the Martin Sunday Lighting Design team has a team meeting, though we begin these meetings a little bit different than the average company team meeting. We start with a group Meditation session lead by one of our team leaders, we “Check In” with each other, then we’re led in a Personal Development Teaching Piece where a designated team member teaches the team something new that they’ve benefitted from either in their personal or professional life. You can learn more about this by reading What Sets Our Team Apart.
This week, it was Katelyn’s turn to lead the Personal Development Teaching Piece and she chose an article found on TheMindFool titled Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life! Feel free to take a moment to read over this article before diving into our discussion below.
Team Discussion
Katelyn started by letting us know that the article is a bit lengthy, but the topic covers both how change is good for our personal and professional lives as well as 10 ways we can embrace change. She goes on to read the intro to the article and finishes by reading this powerful sentence, “Change is good for you, and it will help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses.”
The article lists 20 different reasons why change is good and goes into detail on each of the twenty reasons. Katelyn asked us each to choose our top 3 favorites of these 20 reasons and that we would go around the table to read one of our favorites. (Choosing 3 favorites allowed for us to not repeat a reason if someone else chose it first).
Katelyn began by choosing 2. Change Helps you Become more Versatile, Confident, and Happy – When you say yes to more things and open up to new experiences, you also say yes to taking your life and yourself towards a new direction. Over time, you will become more versatile and adaptable. You will develop new skills that you never before thought you could develop. And when your skills will improve, you will radiate confidence. This newfound confidence will also change the way you approach other things in life. It will change your perspective, and you will be more comfortable to push your boundaries further. Change allows you to close one chapter and open the next one. Bringing about new opportunities and beginning in your life, the change allows you to find a life of happiness and fulfillment. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Tiarra went next by choosing 12. Change is Inevitable – Nothing in this life stays forever. We all know that we can’t remain the same all our lives. And knowing this is a good thing. When we have no control over things, usually the best act is to embrace and adapt to it gracefully. Often, by accepting it, we actually claim our space and control over the change. So, when we strike a chord with this ever-running cycle of change, we can tune its rhythm with our lives. In other words, if we see change as a journey to our life goals, things would be much simpler. Since nothing is constant except the change, if we adapt ourselves to changes in life, we empower ourselves over other variables. So, in a way, change gives us the power of willful stability. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Next up was Martin who chose 20. Change Makes Us Thankful – Change lets us become grateful for what we already have in life. It makes us realize the importance of moments and things we often ignore. We start valuing things we never did before. Change brings the realization that our choices today would decide the changes tomorrow. If we don’t cherish the things that matter today, we might not be able to have them tomorrow. With every change, we grow to understand and value little things in life. Besides, this realization makes us humble. When we realize how the bigger scheme of life works, we take more care of smaller things. This makes life more beautiful. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Then it was Stathis’s turn and he chose 4. Change Offer More Opportunity – Every step that you take in life contributes to your future and has the potential to open new possibilities. More often than not, we can predict it, but if you are in a puddle, confused and annoyed, take the road less traveled. Sometimes, it is good not to be in the driving seat and let destiny take care of itself. When you spend way too much time worrying about what will happen, the opportunities keep gliding past you. So, whether it is about changing the stream or moving to a new city, buckle up and take some actions. If you always remember that change is good for personal growth, your future self will thank you for all the brave decisions you made. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Lastly, it was my turn and I chose 9. Change Gives You Strength – Just like change is unavoidable and constant, it is also true that change is never entirely something good. In certain situations in your life, you will have to encounter changes that are difficult, problematic, and full of obstacles. When change brings you to such a situation in life where you have to overcome hurdles, it allows you to develop strength. When you go through fire, you come out stronger. You become a much robust version of yourself, and you are ready to overcome any more hurdles, should they come your way. This kind of strength that is developed through unpleasant changes in life stays with you forever and changes you from the inside. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Martin chimed in and asked, “Do you all know what tempering metal is?” After we all shook our heads no, he went on to explain, “You temper metal to make it stronger, which is part of the sword-making process. To temper it, you must ‘heat it and beat it’ by putting it straight into the fire“.
Katelyn then went on to say that she went through an extensive amount of change in a very short time last year, which at first made her feel like a failure, but she’s now realized that she came out stronger because of it.
Next, Katelyn had us all chose one of the 10 Ways To Embrace Change aloud. She began by choosing 6. Learn to Let Go – Sometimes we attach ourselves too much with things and affairs. When we come across changes in those aspects, everything seems unsettling. As a result, we try to hold things with all our might. But would it help? We know, often it won’t. So, what is the answer? The art of letting go. Letting go allows us to heal and pay tribute, to be thankful. It’s about liberating yourself from the bondage of the experience. About letting things go beautifully. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Tiarra went next by reading 4. Realize What Is In Your Control – Change is inevitable. However, it doesn’t mean every change is. There are things that are in our hands. So, adapting to change doesn’t mean sitting there, keeping hand on hand. Be it our life, values, relationships, or anything else – if things are changing for the worse, it’s right to try. In other words, if change is happening, you can try to ensure it happens for good. So, take the charge in your hand. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
I spoke up because I didn’t agree with how they worded this. While I do agree that change is inevitable and that every change doesn’t have to happen, I think they should’ve stated something along the lines of: Realize what you can control and control that, but also understand that you aren’t able to control every change that comes your way.
Stathis added by saying, “I take that when things are changing for the worse, that its a lesson to be learned. I look at situations like this as the universe signaling me that I need to go into a different direction.”
Next, it was Martin’s turn and he chose 1. Accept that Change is Inevitable – The first step of embracing change is accepting it. Change is going to happen anyway. Denying it won’t help. So, why not cut the clutter and accept what time has bestowed to us? By doing this, we take a step towards being adaptable to the change. For example, suppose a big change is happening in someone’s life. Now, if they deny it till the end, all they do is lose. Indeed, they lose the time and opportunity they could have used to adapt and grow. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
He finished off by letting us know that this is actually a Buddhist concept – that resistance to change causes suffering. When we try to stop change from happening, we will then cause suffering for ourselves. I took the time to research this further and found a Buddha quote on Medium.com that states, “Change is never painful, only resistance to change is painful.” Click here to read more of the article where I found this quote.
Stathis was up next and he read 2. Acknowledge the Change Your are Experiencing – The next step to embracing change is to acknowledge it. Ask yourself what is happening around you? Have you given it a good thought? Why is it important? How is it going to affect your life? Answering these questions would bring you closer to your situation. You’d be able to accept your reality more readily. Most importantly, try to understand that every change helps you grow. Thus, whatever is happening, it is important for you. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Last but not least, it was my turn and I read 10. Connect the Dots – Each change brings you closer to your unique journey. So, the last and final step towards embracing change is to connect the dots of your unique journey. While trying to figure this out, you will be able to see a reason behind many things that seemed useless or even bad at some point of time. So, connect the dots. Embrace the change. See things differently. (This text was extracted from TheMindFool‘s article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!)
Katelyn had us end our discussion for today by having us each read one of the 50 ‘Change is Good’ Quotes. You can find the entire list of these 50 quotes by checking out the article, Why Change is Good for Your Personal and Professional Life!
Each Team Member’s Personal Thoughts On This Teaching Piece
We’ll end our discussion today by taking a moment to share each team member’s personal thoughts on this teaching piece; what it meant to them, what they took away from it or how they plan to utilize the information moving forward. You can learn more about each team member by visiting our Meet the Team page.
Bailey Reber
I used to hate change, but thankfully I was able to learn in my early twenties to not only embrace it, but to value change. I really loved number ten of 10 Ways to Embrace Change – “Connect the Dots“. Throughout my own personal development journey, I’ve spent lots of time looking back on failed friendships, partnerships and business relationships to reflect on whether I had overlooked any red flags at the beginning stages of these relationships. In doing this, I am able to connect the dots and save myself from making similar mistakes with new relationships in the future.
Katelyn Moore
Change helps us grow and as a start up company, it is good for our team to understand that change is the only thing that will be constant for us. We need change in order to grow together, learn from the past and rise to the successes that we desire.
Martin Sunday
The biggest takeaways for me is that “change makes us thankful” and to “accept that change is inevitable“. Change helps us grow, learn, open doors and experience new things, making it a necessary part of life.
Stathis Kafoglis
I really enjoyed reading Maya Angelo’s quote in this article, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” This resonates with me because what has truly changed in my resolution of conflict is that when I change my reaction to the conflict, my attitude therefore changes. I’m thankful for this reminder today!
Tiarra Whitaker
This article was very empowering and motivating. “Change is inevitable” and evolving is part of being human in this world. Nothing stays the same forever, so just enjoy the ride of living in this moment. You only get one life and you don’t want to waste it by staying the same forevermore. Accept any changes that come your way and know that its for the best.
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Hungry for more? Be sure to check out these previous Personal Development Team Teaching to indulge in more personal growth teachings.
