We live in a world of change and for most of us embracing change feels like a preposterous idea. Author Rudy Poe says we need to learn to like change because it is happening whether we are ready or not. Not a big reader? He also has an online class. Living in the Bay Area means you are living in a culture of constant change. Are you ready to embrace it?
The author is one of those story tellers that makes you feel very at ease as you ponder his ideas. While we all might think that Embracing Change is crazy talk, Mr. Poe leads you down the path of change in a way that makes you feel like you have been doing it all along.
Brain Stuff
In our brains there are dozens of competing forces. One part he calls FUD is the part that whispers all of our fears, uncertainties and doubts when we have an idea. Throughout the book great authors, thinkers and successful entrepreneurs are introduced. Some you know, many I had never heard of. He then breaks those competing forces in your brain into a fun alphabet soup of characters. The star being “U”.
Being a writer myself I did some fact checking as I read through Embracing Change. Some of the authors I had never heard of offered insights into the human spirit I had never considered. While I may have had some dark times in my life, I always was looking up for something better. Who knew this was an important factor in life and success.
Embrace Change and Change Your Life.
At the very beginning of Embracing Change, Rudy Poe asks you to define several possible futures. He challenges you to think in the biggest of dreams and then explains why that isn’t so crazy after all. I have to admit that most of my life I did exactly what he says not to do. Ready (for who knows what), Fire, Aim. Then I would run to see what I hit and what I could do with it. Sometimes the venture failed and a couple times I hit something no one knew would matter and it was a gold mine. Remember that crude oil used to be an annoyance to farmers.
An issue I have to admit to is that I don’t really have a “passion” as Rudy says, and I don’t really have a dozen possible dream futures in my head. I do have several “hobbies” but only one comes close to his definition of passion and that is surfing. I know I will never be a pro surfer and I don’t want to open a surf shop. Realizing that I once did have bigger dreams and passions, reading further into Embracing Change makes a lot more sense.
If you don’t have any dream futures, that might be your first step. Go back to when you were 5 and start dreaming again. If that doesn’t work, maybe it’s time for a whiteboard to find your possible dream futures. You’ll need that to embrace change. The most interesting idea for me was that of combining pieces of these hobbies into one bigger connected thing. That might just be my passion. Thanks Rudy.