It’s been proven that humans appreciate things staying the same. The scientific name for it is homeostasis. Leaders, though, have a choice. You can defy the odds and turn yourself into someone who genuinely loves change.
Fall is a season of fresh starts, so here’s a question: what if you met the next change that comes your way with a sincere desire to enjoy it?
To do so, you must begin by reframing change as something that can bring joy, not just disruption. Curiosity helps get you here. Consider what’s fun, surprising, or better about the new thing. Novelty is one of the few reliable sources of joy adults get. When we choose to treat change as something good, we can experience newness with a fresh perspective.
Because change fights against our human desire for homeostasis, the low points of frustration we go through are real. Being clumsy at something new isn’t failure; it’s the cost of admission. Talk to yourself the way you’d talk to a teammate on day three. Kindness and grace create space for love and acceptance.
Here are five ways to transform into a change lover:
- Find the kick, on purpose. Within the first day of any change, name one thing about it you enjoy or are curious about and say it out loud to someone. What you narrate becomes what you notice.
- Set a grace window. Give yourself a defined stretch (two weeks, a month) where being bad at it is expected and unremarkable. Then stop apologizing for it.
- Normalize your new, fast. The sooner your mindset reflects “this is how we do it now” and lets go of the worries and fears of “the new way,” the sooner the energy spent resisting gets redirected into thriving.
- Win on your terms. Decide what winning with this change looks like for you, carve a clear path forward, and let go of doing all of it perfectly. Selectivity is a leadership skill.
- Tell the current story. Drop “new system,” “the transition,” and “since the change” from your vocabulary. Speak about it as simply how things are. Language is the fastest normalizer there is.
Change doesn’t need your approval to arrive, but once it’s here, it does follow your lead. Leading through change like you love it makes that reality possible.
Founded in 2004, Lead Star is the company behind the best-selling books SPARK, Leading from the Front, and Bet on You. Lead Star helps professionals reach new levels of success through its innovative leadership development programs.
