The Price of Change

 

Chapter 3

The Price of Change 

YES...

        Change is possible!

Advertisements are full of
false statements aimed
at alluring you
to buy.

That is the good news. 

But authentic personal or professional change always comes with a price. Remember what my dad taught me when I was a boy: Nothing in life worth having comes fast or easy. Positive change is always worth pursuing and achieving, but there is always a cost involved. These costs are measured in time, effort, sacrifice, and to an extent—discomfort, and sometimes even pain.

There is no other way!

Bookstores, libraries, television, and the Internet are littered with literature and advertisements promising dramatic changes and other results with little or no effort on your part. Salespeople, marketers, and politicians are especially clever and seductive in their persuasive ploys.

        Buy our product and you'll see immediate and dramatic results!

                Purchase our service and your problems will magically vanish!

                        Vote for me and all of your dreams will come true!

Weight loss plans are infamously alluring. "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days without getting out of your Lazy Boy," they preposterously purport. My older sister, Jody, is not a professional fitness trainer or nutritional guru; yet she once set forth the clearest and surest solution I've ever heard for losing weight and staying in shape.

Her formula: Eat healthy and exercise regularly!

This perennially unpopular, yet perpetually profound method will never become a best-selling book, service, or product; but deep down, we all know it is the ultimate solution to the age-old problem of weight gain.  

This Life Leadership textbook makes no pretension of quick fixes, nor does it guarantee easy answers to personal problems and change efforts. In fact, the only thing I can absolutely ensure is that reading, studying, and applying it will most likely prove both challenging and time-consuming.

This being the case, why in the world would you try to tackle this tome?

The answer is simple, but not easy; and the answer is this: Because a lot of people, including YOU, desire change badly enough that they are willing to do whatever it takes to change, grow, improve, and succeed. 

Ironically, the hardest way in the short-run is usually the easiest way in the long-run, and vice-versa. In the words of the fitness guru, Jerzy Gregorek: Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.

"Hard choices, easy life.  Easy choices, hard life."

—Jerzy Gregorek

Truth often is paradoxical, and this is a classic example of this great truth. 

I have discovered the truth of this principle time-and-time-again throughout my life and career. As an old adage wisely points out: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

—Old Proverb

Countless other self-action leaders have likewise discovered the value and veracity of this timeless truism. In the words of Henry Miller: In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.

"In this age, which believes that there is a short cut for everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest."

—Henry Miller

Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1962

Eleanor Roosevelt said something similar as it relates to our willingness to be courageous in doing what is right. Said she: Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier.

"Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier."

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Simple Truths vs. Easy Solutions

There is a difference between a simple truth and an easy solution in the same sense that there is a difference between theory and practice. This Life Leadership textbook is chock full of simple truths (theory) to solving life's deepest difficulties, defeats, discouragements, and dilemmas. But it cannot provide you with easy answers (practice) to such things because easy answers to perplexing problems don't exist. 

Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling snake oil.

Because YOU are a smart person, understanding the PRINCIPLES outlined in this book may be a fairly simple exercise for you. On the other hand, effectively applying the accompanying PRACTICES consistently over time may be the hardest thing you've ever done. I therefore caution you: don't let the intellectual simplicity of the concepts fool you into thinking that persistently putting them into practice will prove easy or convenient.

Like most truths, the principles contained in these books are paradoxical because they are true, and true because they are paradoxical. They are as simple as they are difficult, and as difficult as they are simple.

It's a simple—and as difficult—as that!

With such recurring declarations of difficulty, why in the world would you want to keep reading this textbook? The answer to this potentially discouraging question is simple, and it is this: Because if you are willing to pay the price and perpetually personify the process, the results are astoundingly worth whatever effort or sacrifice may be required. I know this is true because I've experienced plentiful portions of pomp and victory on the other side of my own life's variety of vicissitudes. 

A lifelong journey of personal and professional growth is not easy for anyone who undertakes it. It has not been easy for me; and it will not be easy for you. In the candidly compassionate commentary of our pal, M. Scott Peck, M.D.: "Even when we truly understand [SAL], the journey of [personal change and growth] is still so lonely and difficult that we often become discouraged."  (1)

That's the bad news. 

The greatest GROWTH of all is the
growth that occurs amidst difficulty

The good news is that growth and change are always possible and no matter how challenging it may be to achieve it, it is always worth whatever expenditure of time, effort, and sacrifice is required. That means that no matter who you are, where you live, or what your present circumstances may be, a better, happier, and more successful and fulfilling future always lies ahead of you if you are willing to travel the authentic course that leads thereto.

Comprehending these possibilities is incredibly motivating.

Furthermore, positive and productive personal change and growth is only the beginning. Relationship change, family change, organizational change, community change, national change, and even global change is always an outgrowth of personal change. Individual growth and progress always precedes collective growth and progress.

That's just the way things are.  

Thus, change in all arenas of life—and the world—can be ignited by the fires of personal change. This is because all macro changes are preceded by micro changes. Change always begins with the ONE; it begins with you and it begins with me.  

So...

   If you have a sincere and authentic desire to:

        Overcome a bad habit,
            Gain confidence,
                Establish or regain your mental health and hygiene,
                    Strengthen and shore up you integrity,
                        Develop greater emotional intelligence and resiliency,
                            Turn a weakness into a strength,
                                    Earn personal growth,
                                        Transform a relationship,
                                            Reorient an unwanted natural inclination...

Acquire new knowledge and skills,
    Become a person you like and respect,
        Influence others in positive and productive ways,
            Make a difference for good in the lives of those you live and work,
                Leave a meaningful and lasting legacy for your posterity,
                    Become great in the eyes of those you most admire and respect,

Live,

    Love,

        Win,

            And take charge of your life,

Then YOU can!

But only if you want to change more than you desire to remain as you are.

For change will

Not be easy,

Come quickly,

Or prove painless.

It will take time,

Demand your very best efforts,

The help of others where needed,

And the blessed aid of Serendipity.

But...

Change is always possible if change is what you most want.
    So, don't let anyone steal your self-sovereignty.
        This is YOUR life to win or lose...
            YOU CHOOSE!

Because...

You have the power.

How?

    Why?  

Because...

    YOU

        Are

            SOVEREIGN.  

The True Meaning of Courage

Courage means different things to different people. At Freedom Focused, we define courage as: doing what is right when doing so is difficult, inconvenient, unpleasant, or unpopular.

COURAGE

Doing what is right when doing so is difficult,

inconvenient, unpleasant, or unpopular. 

Great quantities of courage are required to earn personal growth and change. The most courageous—and enlightened—actions involve exercising your determination and will to either do what is right (especially when it is personally difficult and/or socially unfashionable to do so) and to abstain from engaging in natural inclinations that are wrong (i.e. harmful). And the harder it is to do or not do a thing, the more courageous and noble your actions are—and the greater your reward in the long run.

In the wise and clever words of Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Wayne, respectively: He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life; and Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.

"He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

—John Wayne

In Your Journal

1. Reflect upon a time in your life or career when you acted courageously.  Then, think of a time in your life or career when you acted cowardly.

2. What was different about the time you acted courageously?

3.  What is something you could do to act courageously more consistently in your life and career moving forward?

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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Chapter 3 Notes

1).  Peck, M.S. (1978). The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth. New York, NY: Touchstone. Page 311.