Change is Inevitable

Change.

It's likely one of the most powerful forces in the world. 

People cringe at the thought of it, bar their teeth, and fight it to the death. 

Give some people the choice to tackle a grizzly bear or endure a sudden change in their favorite TV series, and you can bet they're already out looking for the bear before you've finished posing the question...

A lot these days has me wondering about change. 

Why do we hold on so tight to what already is, instead of embracing change and enjoying the opportunity to experience something new?

How often do you think we sacrifice something better, simply to hold on to something good?

In my own life, I've seen countless times where I sabotaged something that would have been so much better because I was too scared of change to embrace it. But, I've also seen other times where I stepped up, made changes, and saw remarkable success because of it!

As I reflect back over the last 3 years, I can see that embracing change has lead me to places I'd never have dreamed of 4 or 5 years ago. 

A great example of this is in my career path. I'm just outgoing enough to have talked my way into a fully outbound sales position for a startup company. If you're not familiar with the term "outbound", it's essentially the type of sales where cold calling and door knocking are your primary "tools in the bag". 

Boy, did I fight change for the 15 months that I held that position. I would talk myself in circles before picking up the phone, and end up never actually dialing the people I knew I should be calling. The internal conflict was immense, as I knew I needed to change in order to become the sales person that was needed to be fully successful there. 

Unfortunately, I never "figured it out" prior to that job ending. 

But I did learn a thing or two, the biggest of which was that I wasn't going to get anywhere unless I started changing. 

So, I took my next outbound sales position with a different perspective. 

This perspective involved me being a student, learning everything I could from books, podcasts, and people better than me about sales and marketing. When it came to the daily tasks of the job, I learned to enjoy walking through doors where I hadn't been invited! People actually appreciated that I'd go so far "out of my way" to visit and provide immense value to them. 

When COVID-19 happened and we started working remotely, my job changed again to 100% cold calls. I fought it at first, arguing that my time was better spent doing anything else. But, once I embraced that this change was happening and that I needed to step up, I started making the calls with vigor. 

And guess what...it wasn't nearly as bad as I had told myself it would have been!

I'd imagine by now you're probably reading along thinking, "yeah that's great AJ, but what's the point of rambling about this?"

Bear with me, because the story isn't complete without its ending.

Fast forward some more, and I decided that change was needed. This time, instead of fighting it, I embraced it (after 3-4 months of careful consideration and planning). 

I resigned from my sales position to officially found my own company. 

And, guess what?!

My job, as the founder of the company, is to sell and market our services. So, I am still doing outbound sales, to this day! However, the person who's doing the sales has changed drastically since I started down this specific track over 3 years ago. 

In every instance where I embraced change, life has gotten better. My career, my marriage, my family life, my vision - everything. 

The world we live in is chaotic, and we cannot always avoid change. And, change is not always going to be fun, and it won't always "be in our favor". But, I'd encourage you to embrace change as it arrives. This isn't to say you should throw caution to the wind and run headfirst into every change that could happen. However, I have personally experienced the drastic power of change for good in my own life, and it all started when I stopped fighting it tooth and nail.

Thanks for hanging in there. I hope this has both encouraged you and expanded your horizons on what's possible.

Stay Sharp. Stay Savage.