Life Skills · 5 lessons

Adaptability

Change your plans, your skills and even your direction when the world changes, without losing who you are. 5 short lessons with worked examples.

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Change your plans, your skills and even your direction when the world changes, without losing who you are.

The lessons

• When the plan stops fitting the world — Plans are made with the information you had then. When the world changes, updating the plan is wisdom, not failure.
• Taking your skills somewhere new — Your experience contains skills that can travel. Naming them helps you see options beyond your current job title.
• Rebuilding after a big change — After a big change, such as a move, a loss or a new stage of life, it is normal to feel unsettled. Rebuilding usually happens one small routine at a time.
• Staying curious when unsure — When things are uncertain, curiosity keeps you open to options that fear would hide. Asking "what could this make possible?" changes what you see.
• Changing without losing yourself — Your circumstances, roles and skills can change while your values and character stay steady. Knowing what is core makes change less frightening.

Practise

Think of a change you are facing or expect. Write the assumptions your current plan rests on, the skills you have that could travel, and what about you stays the same whatever happens.

• A considered answer tends to include: names assumptions that could be tested
• A considered answer tends to include: lists skills in terms of what you can do, not job titles
• A considered answer tends to include: separates what is core from what is circumstance

Try it this week

This week, take one curious step toward a change you have been avoiding: talk to someone who made it, try a new tool, or explore one new option.

Reflect

What big change in your past turned out differently from what you feared, and what did it teach you?