Change, power and set-backs

When we make change, we’re pushing against the status quo.

The status quo has power, inertia, tradition and status.

Change terrifies the status quo. When you’re at the top, it feels like there is only one way to go. Change is the worst nightmare of those winning, what they think is a zero sum game.

So when we push against all of that power, it’s going to push back. Let’s not be naive and surprised by that pushback. It’s inevitable.

Sometimes that pushback will slow us down, sometimes it’ll move us backward, sometimes it’ll knock us flat on our ass.

The question is not IF the status quo will push back, the question is what we’ll do WHEN the status quo pushes back.

If we know the setback is inevitable, then let’s learn to love it. Let’s learn to recognise that it’s a mark of recognition. The status quo has noticed what we’re doing with our change and deemed it interesting enough to push against.

A setback is a defeat, only when we allow it to be. Only if we choose to let the story end there. If we keep writing the story, then when we stand back, we can see that it’s just a small bump in a much larger narrative. A narrative in which the biggest inevitability is change.