“All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein
It’s a little ironic to me that my company’s product line is based in part on a manufacturing method developed in the Middle Ages while at the same time we have identified the ability to change and adapt as being more important than our strength or intelligence. As CEO I prize employees who display nimbleness, a passion for ongoing refinement and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place.
Many people possess those qualities but more often than not they withhold them and wait for others around them to initiate any shift from the status quo. Rather than stick their necks out and consequently stand out in the crowd, they prefer the relative comfort of anonymity and mediocrity.
Anyone who has embraced change in life can tell you that a commitment to change must be back by persistence and specific action. Pronouncements of change such as “I’ll be different this time” and “We can’t make the same mistake again” must be met with a deliberate clearing out of the old pattern and a careful induction of the new.
“The hardest part of gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea that occupies that niche.” ~ Robert Heinlein
It is said that “old habits die hard” for good reason. Habitual thoughts, actions and patterns of reaction wear grooves in the body, mind and heart that can be difficult to avoid when a change is initiated. That said, change has the remarkable ability to be both a process and instantaneous. Most changes take a while to become the new “normal” yet many changes happen in an instant and last forever.
The former are obviously the greater challenge for they require persistence, constant readjustment and a realignment of the factors that found their balance based on the former state. I’ve watched a number of changes in my organization revert to “how we always used to do it” faster than you can say “I thought we agreed to approach this differently.”
Charting a new course can be particularly difficult when the previous way of doing things was well entrenched or long-standing. In my estimation people invest far too much of their sense of stability in external factors (other people, their surroundings, etc.) and they miss the opportunity to cultivate an unflappable sense of stability and tranquility that only comes from a deep connection to their inner selves, their true character.
When you are at rest with yourself, being yourself and aware of your connection to a greater sense of purpose, you are at peace no matter what is going on around you. My company is filled with such people and they never cease to amaze me. No matter how busy they are, how pressured they feel, they continue to display, as I mentioned earlier, nimbleness, a passion for ongoing refinement and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place.
What do you see as the larger purpose for the work you do? Whether you are employed or retired, you are involved in creative activity. When you are clear about your purpose you stop working against yourself. When you are clear about your purpose distractions are less likely to draw you from your desired course. When you are clear about your purpose you are no longer at risk of being tossed by the winds and waves of circumstance.
Gregory Hake 
This post and You are a Creative Power are exactly what my daughter and I needed to hear. I am going to over the latter very carefully. There is so much good stuff there. The place you talk about though is very difficult for some of us to get too.
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Getting there is half the fun, so don’t forget to enjoy it!
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Discovering my purpose in any activity is really vital to keep me moving. I’ve found if I can’t see it or feel and articulate it to myself, I impede my forward movement. I also agree it is the star that keeps me on course when the storms come. Wonderful post thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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I like to think that a change has really stuck when you would never even think of doing something the way you had before. It’s when those little nagging doubts or “well maybe just this time’s” get in there that there is a chance of going back. A clear purpose is a fast track to the state of no doubts. It gives you a reason to make those lasting changes.
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That’s a good measure for change!
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How true! I have greatly appreciated contemplating this weeks thread of continuity and have come to a new place in consciousness with respect to the purpose that is back of what I am now doing, which by the way is going tremendously successful, and I feel it is as such because it is purpose driven. I was taking note conciously the other day and I can’t quite remember the last time I looked at the clock wishing a finish time would arrive. Engaged in the finishing and re-finishing or restoration of other peoples homes and business’s has been a tremendously rewarding path for me, and I think, what is happening, without my getting in the way is bringing me closer to my overall purpose, which is why the conscious struggle no longer exists! I know where I am going, and how I will get there, and why.
Thanks Gregg, your posts started the same time as my transition began, and it has and I’m sure will continue to be a wonderful journey!!!!
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It’s nice to have a job where the results of your actions are so visible to you and to your clients!
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So appreciate the thoughts of change and the essence of a continuing evolution towards a refinement of our talents and capacities.
The idea of change seems to move around the idea that one might be found in an uncomfortable place, yet in today’s whirlwind of chaos there is little comfort to be found by holding onto what is not working at this time.
The thought of moving towards a refinement of what is working and purposeful brings with it a sense of comfort that once experienced is like an elixir, contrary to that first step of coming out of the zone of chaos.
Sounds like work is play and play is work. How fun.
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Sometimes accepting the idea of making a necessary change is more difficult than the change itself. Developing the habit of moving swiftly and unhesitatingly from recognition to application can be a big help as it minimizes the time spent in the “zone of chaos.” Loved the term, thanks!
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How many people are really at rest with themselves! In fact, it seems that those who are creative tend to have a hard time in life – perhaps because there is such pressure to “slot” in to the ordinary.
Being what you might call, a “creative” type (I like to draw, paint, write, create, etc), it does take something to really let go.
No matter what you do in life, there is an art to it. I appreciate the importance you have put on being at peace with yourself, allowing your imagination to flow and being steadfast about your purpose.
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There is the pressure to fit in but there is also the fear of rejection. Both imprison the artistic side of people far too often!
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“When you are clear about your purpose you are no longer at risk of being tossed by the winds and waves of circumstance.”
Great thanks
Elias
emergent-hive.com
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My pleasure…
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