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September 5, 2006
Change
The other night while out with some friends I heard something that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. Something that’s really made me think.
I have a friend who’s always running at 120%, and is unable to handle the curve balls life throws at you. He’s very prone to stress, anxiety, and I’m afraid he’s going to suffer some bad health unless he changes.
The other night as we were out eating, I tried expressing my concerns and after a while he finally stated “If I change, then I’ve lost who I am.”
This firm statement put an end to that conversation, but it started me thinking. First I thought about change itself, and the fact that change is the only constant. Everything and everyone changes. Change is going to happen. The trick is to try to change in ways that are beneficial. We should always be trying to change into something better than we are now.
So what does this have to do with virtualization? Let’s think about how the IT industry has changed. In 1997 I tried to install an email system in the company I worked for, only to be told my the CEO that it wasn’t needed. In 1999 the company I worked for had a blackberry server. At the time blackberries were numeric pagers and only the top brass in our company had them. Now, these two technologies have merged and having email access anywhere on your blackberry is a given for most.
The industry changes, and we have to respond. We have to see the changes that are happening, and try to move in the most intelligent direction we can.
As for my friend, I only hope he realizes that change can be good.
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September 6th, 2006 at 5:08 am
while i agree that change is inevitable, i would put forth that too much change or the adopting of change for change sake is not good. allowing your environment, your job, your boss, or your friends to force change in you can fundamentally strip an individual of their identity.
there was a time when people came home and instead of answering email at 2 am they were asleep. during dinner, they participated in family discussions, not conference calls. I would put forth that some of the changes that we have seen in our society in the last 20 years have not been good.
that very same example with the blackberry and email is a perfect one to demonstrate my point. it is now expected that if you have a blackberry that you respond in an instantaneous manner foregoing anything that is happening in life to make sure that business continues. Society has changed such that Americans take the fewest vacations in the industrialized world. as a result, we have seen a decline in the time that Americans spend together with family, a de-emphasis on church and family values and the influence that working parents have on their children.
i watched my father and grandfather growing up. they were entrpreneurs. thus, you would think that they would be very busy and constantly working. They were busy but there were few times when dad worked until 9. I think i can count them on my hands. today, working to 9 is more of a norm than an exception. this is a change that is not good.
i am not against change. change can be good; however, i also would postulate that change can be bad when not adopted for the right reasons or when forced upon you.
September 6th, 2006 at 5:14 am
i would also submit when those changes that I mentioned cause you to fundamentally change who you are, what you stand for, what you tolerate and change your actions, then these too are not good changes.
when you are looking at your blackberry during your anniversary dinner with your wife when you only see her 1 day a week, you know that change has too powerfully crept into your life.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Forced change, or change for the sake of it is not good. As a friend I’m not trying to force a change. Instead, I am trying to help a friend find a more comfortable existance on this spinning chunk of granite we call home.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:48 am
By the way, if you\’re at your anniversary dinner and you brought your blackberry, then you wife needs to deliver some serious a$$ whooping!
September 6th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
Hmmmm…. This is an interesting thread. Just to throw my two cents into the ring there is a fundamental difference between the ability to unplug or quiesce technology in our lives and the ability to change, not sure what one has to do with the other. If you feel your blackberry has the ability to change who you are that is a problem. Additionally the comparison of a fathers and grandfathers is not a fair comparison given the relative pace, desires, struggles, etc… of our society today. Life is seemingly more self indulgent and complicated thus everything becomes more complicated in different ways. Our grandfathers did not spend 2 hours in traffic, this is a fundamental change that comes as part of societal growth on the other hand we (all of us) desire the 6000 square foot home wired with 802.11b so we can surf the net from anywhere in out home, was that a desire of our grandfathers? It was simply a simpler time of race wars and gender discrimination, I am glad we changed and I embrace the stress of traffic, long hours and my blackberry.
Philosophically life is a journey with many twist turns and opportunities to grow as a human being, father, husband, son or daughter… at what point do we become “Who we are”? In my mind the answer is simple, we are never “Who we are”… As we go through life we learn, morph, adapt, overcome and ultimately change and become better. Our needs and desires change, the way we approach life changes, everything changes. The assumption that all change will be positive is unrealistic, as we grow we will often take two steps back to take five forward. Like life change comes in ebbs and flows, the ability to weather the unpredictability of change is a virtue. An unwillingness to change is an unwillingness to grow as a productive member of society, family, community, etc… Embrace change, change your perspective, leverage change as a competitive advantage and grow as a person.
“Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.” - King Whitney Jr.
September 7th, 2006 at 5:22 am
A few additional inspirational quotes:
“To change is difficult. Not to change is fatal.†— Charles Darwin
“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.†— Charles Darwin
“It is not necessarily the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change.†— Charles Darwin
“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.†— Charles Darwin
-RJB
http://gotitsolutions.org
September 17th, 2006 at 10:29 am
[…] On September 6th, 2006 I posted a response to a blog post on http://vi411.org entitled “Change“. I have run across a great video that I thought I would share. […]