In my previous post just before the New Year, I talked about the fact that we should strap ourselves in for some interesting times and that it's better to be proactive about change rather than reactive. I want to talk a bit about change and how to deal with it.   In the 2008 election, about 52% of the country voted for change.  They were expecting change, and change is what they got (one could argue whether it was the change they wanted, but I digress).  The point is that it's an established fact that our minds tend to give us what we expect. if not always in the exact form we want.

Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics Dan Ariely reported on this mind-expectation phenomenon in his fascinating book Predictably Irrational.  It seems that a group of highly regarded neuroscientists decided to test the validity of the Coke-Pepsi wars (remember that each company claimed that consumers preferred the taste of their brand over the competitor's) by conducting a blind/non-blind study using MRI technology to look at the brain's response while the participants were drinking Coke, Pepsi, or some other drink.  They learned that the frontal area of the brain, which is  the source of higher-cognition and is connected to the pleasure area, was activated when the participants drank either Coke or Pepsi, but the response for Coke was greater.  More surprising yet, they discovered that Coke produced a much more pronounced reaction in the pleasure centers of the brain.  It appears that the Coke brand is associated with more warm fuzzies than Pepsi--people have more positive expectations for Coke. That's the result of a great branding strategy!

OK, so, where I am I going with this?  If you buy my argument that we're in for some interesting times and no small amount of change, it might make sense to make sure that the feelings we associate with change are positive.  Unfortunately, I'd be willing to bet that most people associate change with something negative because, in general, change affects the status quo.  If you expect negative outcomes from change long enough, you're bound to get them.  So why not take a more proactive approach that has a higher probability of producing positive outcomes? Why not look at change from a new perspective?   

For example, when the recession hit, most people crawled into their bunkers and decided to wait it out because no good could come from a recession--the worst since the Great Depression (I'm so tired of that phrase--my grandparents lived the Great Depression--we're not even close to the same experience).   But some enterprising people  looked for ways to take advantage of the downturn--after all, many things like real estate became more affordable. They chose a more positive, proactive approach rather than a negative,  reactive one.  I don't know about you, but it makes much more sense to me to build positive associations around change than to let it force you into a bunker mentality. The next time your plans for the day get changed by something unexpected, use it as an opportunity to practice looking for the opportunity in the change. The more you practice, the better you'll get at controlling how you respond to change  What do you think?