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Loading...By Sid Madge, Meee
Nothing stays the same. Ironically, change is the only constant. Life moves and evolves and sometimes those changes are tough and sometimes they are welcome. In the last few years many of us have been forced to change the way we work, the way we socialize, our holiday plans, and the way we keep in touch with friends and family. Some of the change has been heartbreaking, some has been unsettling and disappointing and other changes have delivered unexpected silver linings.
No one knows what’s around the corner, but we can guarantee it involved more change: new seasons, new jobs, new homes, new school, new terms. Change is endless, so we may as well get comfortable with it.
Image: Yay Images
I’m a great believer in instant change, little ‘micro-moments’ of learning or adaptation that allow us to actively take charge of our situation and emotions in the moment, to reset and to bring more of our best to help ourselves and others. Each micro-moment intervention is designed to be actionable in a minute and I’ve written three books on these micro-moments for life, work, and family.
Here are three simple ways to cope with change and build resilience, in just a few minutes a day.
1. The Basics
If you want to emerge from change fighting fit and raring to go then you need to take care of the basics. That means eating healthy food, getting enough micro-nutrients, enough sleep and drinking plenty of water.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t have take-outs or go out for a few drinks – just take care of the basics most of the time. Getting enough rest is also crucial. To help with sleep make sure you don’t have a TV in your bedroom and no checking Facebook or TikTok before bed. Ideally don’t have your phone in your bedroom. Get an alarm clock and charge your phone in the kitchen. Trust me – the world will not tilt on its axis if you are not within touching distance of your phone for a few hours.
Make eating well easy for yourself. Take a few minutes to plan your meals for the week and make sure there is plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables in the house. Also, consider a social media detox for a day or so. You might be surprised at how much better you feel.
2. Celebrate Failure
Change requires us to do, think or be different in some way. This often means mistakes, failures, and slip-ups along the way. It’s rare that we move seamlessly from one position to the other without some stumbles. Learning to ride a bike is a change—change from walking to a new form of transport—and learning to ride a bike doesn’t just happen miraculously, like the flick of a switch. It’s a journey of anxiety, questionable balance, and a few scrapes. Everyone fails their way to riding a bike.
We all know this and yet when we become adults, we dread failure. It is seen as a weakness or something that must be hidden or fudged. And that is rubbish! Failure is the only way to succeed at anything, including successful change. This is known as having a growth mindset – the idea that everything is possible and we can get better at anything if we stick with it and persevere.
Next time you have to make some changes recognize that A to B is never linear. There will be days that you stuff up. Times when you feel that you are taking three steps forward and two steps back. That’s OK. Just keep going. Take a minute to think about how many times you have embarked on change and created unrealistically high expectations for yourself. Stop expecting immediate perfection and instead settle for consistent effort.
3. Move
Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone and too much of it can cause havoc to our health and mental wellbeing. Cortisol also creates negative feedback loops which means that the more cortisol we create in the body the worse we feel which in turn creates even more cortisol in a downward spiral. Social psychologist, Amy Cuddy demonstrated that changing what your body is doing for as little as two minutes can massively reduce cortisol levels. A great way to disperse cortisol in your system is to move and get physically active. You don’t need to go overboard – no need to pound the pavement at 5 am. Just move your body. Put on a favorite song and dance around your living room—like no one is watching—for a few minutes.
By taking just a few minutes a day and following the suggestions above you can put yourself in the best possible state of mind to manage change successfully. Change is constant and the sooner we accept that and get good at change the happier we will be.
Sid Madge is the founder of Meee which draws on the best creativity and thinking from the worlds of branding, psychology, neuroscience, education, and sociology, to help people achieve extraordinary lives.
To date, Meee has transformed the lives of over 20,000 people, from leaders of PLCs and SMEs to parents, teachers, students, carers, the unemployed, and prison inmates.
Sid Madge is also author of the Meee in Minute series of books which each offer 60 ways to change your life, work-, or family-life in 60 seconds.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.
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