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t was the author of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill who famously said, [ictt-tweet-inline]”Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit[/ictt-tweet-inline]. All adversities and heartaches are normally a result of change. Even when change is not necessarily negative, at the end of the day it has seeds of greater benefit with it. In fact, if change will cause us to retrogress in the end then there is no reason to engage in it in the first place.

The Detriment of Shunning change

Just a few years back, Nokia was cruising in sales with their cell phones. It was prestigious to own a Nokia phone. Then something happened. Someone at Apple innovated a smartphone. Before long, someone at Google enabled the Android technology. Soon enough, smartphones were just about the thin ghat everyone wanted and even needed. One would have hoped that Nokia would be at the forefront of manufacturing smartphones. They did not want to change and it cost them a great deal. The same can be said of Motorolla, Siemens ,Erickson and Blackberry. New kids on the black who embraced the change are smiling all the way to the bank: Apple and Samsung.

Benefits of Change

In the previous post, we saw that there is an internal benefit when you choose to go through change. You definitely will never be the same again. In this post, we go deeper into further benefits that change accrues. These are what I call “Personal Benefits”. In fact, if we knew what awaits us at the other side of change, we would be motivated to go through it. Soon enough, we shall be entering the new year, and most of us will want better, bigger and shinier things. Guess what? They won’t come without change. In other words if you keep doing what you have always done, you will end up getting what you have always got. Change therefore is what brings you these benefits. The following are the personal benefits of change:

1. Change brings growth:

I think it was John C. Maxwell who said, “If we are growing we are always going to be off our comfort zones”. I have paraphrased, but you get the message. Change, whether good or bad will cause us to grow in different areas:

a) Economically:

Tell me how you will improve your economic situation without change! It is next to impossible. In fact, I am scheming of doing some things in 2019 that will create separate and different streams of income for me. Do you know what I will be compelled to do? I will be compelled to change the way I approach life. I will be compelled to change in order that I can produce more products and services. If I keep doing what I have always done in 2018, there is no way I am having separate streams of income in 2019. So if you want to improve economically, you have to embrace change.

b) Socially:

Change might remove some “friends” from your life. By the way, if you wanted to know the people that are really true friends, go through some change and see. People do not want you to change, especially if that change is not comfortable to them. However, change will introduce you to new people, those of like passions and those who truly care about you as you care for them. If you are satisfied with what you have in terms of your social capital, then you had better not change because the moment you do, that social capital will also change.

2. Change Increases Your Capacity

There are some things that are hidden from you but will only be revealed when you experience change. Every time you go through some change, you acquire some experience. This quote helps me to put this point in perspective:

“Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is usually the result of experience. Experience is usually the result of bad judgment.” –Tony Robbins

That is why those who have experience and are attending an interview are more interesting to listen to than those who do not. The fact of the matter is that experience is not just something that you get professionally. Life also gives you some if you are keen enough to curate it for life. Whenever you go through change, it has a direct impact on you as it inherently increases your capacity in different ways. Your world view, your resilience and your take on life is impacted.

3. Change Qualifies You For The Next Level

There is no next level without change. Looking back in my life, every time I have gone through change, I have always been elevated to a new and better level. When I dropped out of College due to lack of school fees, I retreated to the village. That was one of the lowest moments of my life. I was going through forced change. By the time change was through with me, I had learnt a mighty lesson: that there is no situation useless in life. When I embraced that change, I was elevated just few months down the road, and I have never gone back to the village because of lack of what to do more than 20 years later! Painful change always qualifies you for the next level. Just be sure that this change process you are going through is not necessarily eternal. It comes to do its work and soon enough you will be out pure as gold.

We shall carry on with the message of change in the next post.