Are You THIS Good at Avoiding Change?
Many photos at the top of LinkedIn articles are superfluous. This one is not. See the three dog biscuit pieces, neatly arranged where two sofa cushions meet? My L-shaped sofa stretches about 12 feet from end to end, and when I got home this evening, biscuits were carefully hidden like this from one end to the other.
My dog, Dex, did the arranging. A 12-year-old rescue dog, he was home alone and apparently nervous, so he stole a plastic bag full of biscuits, opened it, and hid as many biscuits as he could fit in the sofa. He didn't eat the biscuits; he hid them in case I didn't come home and he needed food in the future.
Dex did this because we are in a new house, and he feels uncomfortable being left alone here. He spent part of the first year of his life starving on the streets of Brooklyn, and apparently our recent move has caused him to remember not having enough to eat. (When we first adopted Dex, he always stole the bread and hid it under my pillow.)
Here's my question for you: if a dog is this smart about fearing change, how good are people at it?
We have all sorts of strategies for avoiding change. For example, someone recently told me that two statements were enough for a person to resist all change at work:
We never do that here.
We already tried that here.
You can label change as dangerous, rash, haphazard, inappropriate or premature.
You can embrace change when it involves other people, but resist it when it involves you.
You can talk about change, but not actually change.
At some point this afternoon, my dog thought: I can still fit more biscuits under that last cushion over there. He could have put 20 biscuits under one cushion; he didn't. He put two or three biscuits under each cushion.
Never underestimate the ability of living, breathing creatures to fear and resist change. It's what keeps us alive, but it's also what keeps us from progressing.
I also write for Forbes. You might like some of my most popular articles there:
- Three Powerful Ways to Stop Wasting Time
- 10 Quick Ways to Supercharge Your Career
- 20 Little Tips for a Big Career and Life
Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs and executives. Learn more at Kasanoff.com. He is the author of How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk.
Civil/Structural Engineering - Bridges, Energy and Infrastructure
9 年Dex, Biscuits and Wisdom to lower insecurity! . . . good observation for anybody associated in any manner to the word 'stray'
Clean Water, more important than food! Delivering safe clean water in the field and proving it in the lab.
10 年Has anyone ever done a statistical analysis on the ammount of wasted resources squandered on hair ball changes? I believe change can be good or bad but when it is not thought out properly it is usually a waste, or worse a disaster.
Risk & Insurance Professional
10 年Nice, it does make you think - but in my case it would have been a disaster with my new rescue - she would each the couch if left alone!
Founder, CEO | Helping Brands Create Demand
10 年Cute post, and very cute dog. Thanks for sharing, it certainly makes you think. :)
Experience / Exposure would help all of us in 2021 and make us do things differently for sure !
10 年Changes are a part of life, some fear changes,some like changes but the best part is changes are required for anyone to keep him/her moving. Because life goes on .