Alignment - is this a pursuit or a state of mind?

2021 has been an intensive year to constantly align to the new contexts of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Being an entrepreneur, one must bear in mind that “Change” is a “Necessary” for Growth to take place. If Change is necessary, then it is imperative that Discomfort (or Resistance to change) will have to be the key experience during each of these situations. Not many people can fully grasp that Change is a necessity, especially during this era of Vulnerable, Unprecedented, Covid-19, Ambiguous (my new VUCA) Economy. If we can recognize the value of our past education, these are times, where all our education must be put to the fullest potential. Everything ELSE (on top of the subjects) that we have learnt from education (i.e., friendships, competition, fun, society, sharing, queueing, etc) must also come into a “Beautiful Alignment” of value offering to the economy or the community I live with. Handling these Changes never fails to bring out newer feelings of “shittiness”; but if one frames these feelings into a little “diary of experiences”, then one would find that these are precious memories that may never come back again or may repeatedly come back to disturb or haunt us; deepening each time it comes - until it is resolved or that one has found a way to deal with it / enjoy it. Like an old CRT television in the old days: Each time the TV loses its colour or jumps a little with some static, we will find a way to deal with it so that we can fully (or grudgingly) enjoy the television show that is happening now. Alignment can be defined as framing each situation as an instance for Growth; whether it’s in failure / successes. Each instance is a time for one to re-evaluate whether our approach is ideal for the current context. Problem is, most of us are going to be reluctant of making use of our instincts and to be the first mover to say, “This is what I will do NOW”.

“Someone else needs to do it first so that I don’t look stupid”. That was one of my greatest excuses for the past decade.

Year 2021 was the year I decided to be more direct by being “Focused, Intentional, Novice and Deliberate” (FIND) to decide what was important and necessary to allow myself to become a better version of Me.

There was no doubt this was self-centred; but its intent was to make me in a better and newer position where I have newer valued offers for the community I want to be with for the rest of my life - my family, friends, colleagues, customers, and new acquaintances. I chose the difficult path; which proved to be most productive and most problematic - why choose “EASY” when everyone is going through “TOUGH”? “Highs” and “Lows” are our indicators for change. You will know it when you reach each turn. Like being passenger in a car, you can choose to be sensitive each time the car makes a left, right or U-turn; or clueless and fall asleep. Using the same analogy, when you start to sense a turn coming, brace yourself and ask yourself “How can I make this turn more ______________”, where the underline is the outcome that you want. Keep it as ONE WORD. You’d notice that you start to become more intentional.

Do it now. Don’t have FOMO (i.e. Fear of Missing Out) later. Go be that First Mover. Your time is NOW! In conclusion, we don’t have all the answers to our future, we don’t need reasons for the past. We just need to recognise whether we are prepared to apply all our learnings that had taken place since we were born; and how to use them and ALIGN them for each new situation that is going to come our way. Change is going to keep “BANGING” at your door, and you have the choice of doing it or not. Challenge: How might we be able to make these situations as opportunities for new learnings and now frames of approach to our new economy? For more thoughts on this - join the conversation during our webinar - click on the link below to sign up, and don't forget to complete the survey please!