Mind & Matter: Volume 6

It took ancient humans 2 million years to control fire and then use it for cooking.

But it only took 66 years from the first flight to a successful moon landing.

What jobs will be hot in 15 years? What skills will I need to do those jobs?

These are hard questions to answer.

The only thing that I can predict with any accuracy, is that the pace of change is going to continue to trend upwards.

The evergreen skill in an environment like that is - adaptability.

• Adaptability = the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions

If things change and you don't, opportunities will pass you by.

This seems simple enough.

Go with the flow right?

Wrong.

Adjusting doesn't mean letting the detour take you where it will.

It means being able to navigate back towards your destination after being blown off course by the detour.

Immediately Increase your Adaptability:

Being adaptable is all about changing when necessary so that you can still reach you end goal.

But when a detour presents itself, how do we know which way to adjust?

The changes we make when faced with a detour are ultimately informed by our intended destination.

If we have no idea what our intended destination is, how can we redirect ourselves?

We cannot.

Without it, I lack clarity on how I should react to changing conditions and my ability to think of creative solutions is diminished.

The easiest way to become more adaptable is by setting a clear destination.

I call this having an ‘important mission’.

Having an important mission is like something on the horizon to set your sights on.

When you encounter rough seas, you know how you need to adjust your sails.

Having a meaningful mission, informs our changes and helps us produce creative solutions.

An important mission:

You don't have to try and save the world for this to be effective.

It just needs to be something that's meaningful to you.

For me, right now, it's creating my freedom through online business.

I see the criteria for an 'Important Mission' as follows:

• You must be genuinely interested in it

• It must be of your own design

• It should be challenging

Why does this help adaptability?

To explore this a little further, lets look at two different versions of myself and see how they might react to change:

• Version 1: Has set his sights on running a marathon sometime this year.

• Version 2: No fitness goal, runs occasionally.

Both Versions are subject to the same change:

• Change: I'm now required to travel 5 days every week for work.

Lets also apply a few parameters that apply to both versions:

• Both Versions prefer to run outside

• It's unsafe to run outside the hotel, so they can't.

Version 1: Dealing with change

This version is pursuing something that he believe’s to be valuable.

It's something that I've designed for myself, it's challenging, and I've attached meaning to it.

So when I get the news about traveling, my mind starts to come up with creative solutions about how I'm going to continue to train even though I'll be traveling all the time.

While its not perfect, I see that I can modify my plan to make it work by:

• Short runs on the hotel treadmill

• Long runs on the days when I am not traveling

• Use a jump rope as a running alternative if treadmill is occupied

• Adopt a stretching routine to keep loose after all that air and car travel.

In this scenario, the pursuit of the marathon informs my direction of travel even after my scenario had changed.

It gives me a lens to view the problem through.

With that lens it's relatively easy for version 1 to come up with some creative solutions that allow him to continue training.

Version 2: Dealing with Change

When the situation changes for version 2, things look a little bit different.

I'd imagine he would react somewhat like this:

• Run on the hotel treadmill when possible

• Skip workouts if the treadmill is occupied

• Don’t worry about stretching

This version has no mission.

Because of that, his doesn't have a need to design a creative solution to his new situation.

Why would he think to travel with a jump rope? Why does he need to stretch?

There really isn’t a problem for him to solve.

He can't do what he's used to anymore, so he basically stops entirely.

He's out for a lazy Sunday drive. So when he is presented with a detour, he gets redirected, permanently.

His fitness declines as a result.

Conclusion:

If you know where you're going, a detour won't permanently throw you off track.

If you have no idea where you're going, then a detour could permanently redirect you.

• Pursuing something meaningful:

  • It makes adapting to change easier

  • Increased creativity problem solving abilities

• Create the plan yourself:

  • You're more likely to follow a plan of your own creation.

The most adaptable among us are pursuing something that is meaningful to them.

It gives them a reason to keep going and a reason to change positively in the face of adversity.

Good luck.