FOCUS: Learn how to avoid enemies of change to realize success

By Anton Gunn, republished with permission  | Recently, I have been focused on success. Particularly, I am focused on the changes you need to make to achieve success in your life. Change is the operative word today. Change is a constant in our lives. Nothing in our lives stays the same. Everything changes. Some changes happen on their own. Other changes happen when we decide to make them happen.

Gunn

I want you to be aware of the enemies of change. Yes, that’s right. I want you to be aware of the nemeses of the improvements you want to make in your life. You must avoid them at all cost because they can stifle your success. You must learn how to defend and defeat them. Here they are.

The Five Enemies of Change

1. Don’t be apprehensive or afraid of making the change. A change will always happen. It will happen for you or to you. Leaders don’t let change happen to them, they make it happen for them.
2. It’s very important to plan the changes that you want to make. However, don’t over plan and over analyze the plan so much that you never get to the execution phase. Too many people suffer from paralysis by analysis. Leaders always take decisive action.
3. Indecision, vacillation and reluctance are direct impediments to your success. Hesitation indicates a lack of confidence in what you want to change. Lasting change requires you to have confidence. Confidence is a product of your belief system. Raise your belief system and you won’t fall victim to hesitation.
4. Procrastination. This is the war between your mindset and your willpower. You mentally know what you need to do but your will tells you that tomorrow is a better day to change. Then tomorrow never comes. Again, leaders always take decisive action…. TODAY. Not tomorrow but today.
5. Quitting is the biggest enemy of change. You can’t create change if you quit. If you don’t quit, change will eventually come. Don’t quit on yourself. Don’t quit on the change. Don’t let the enemy win.

Keep your eyes open for these enemies as you work towards your desired change. When you can see these enemies, they are much easier to defeat. They are easier to defeat because you now have a plan to defeat them.

You can do it. Let’s do it together!

Anton Gunn, a former S.C. state representative, is chief diversity officer at the Medical University of South Carolina Health System. A former senior official in the Obama administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he is a nationally-recognized leadership development and health care reform expert.

• Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com