“I want my business to be totally different, but I don’t want to change anything.”
My client Frank doesn’t say this. What he says is he wants an orderly office where he can find what he’s looking for at a moment’s notice, like when he’s on the phone overseas. He says he’s sick and tired of the current state of affairs: piles of paper all over the desk – the chairs – the credenza – the floor — everywhere. I can see why he’s sick of it. The piles are easily three feet high and spilling over into one another. How can he see clients in here? He says much of the paper is outdated, so he doesn’t rely solely on it anyway; he goes online when he needs the latest information. But he can’t get rid of the paper.
Frank is a high-powered financial services executive and his business is very information dense, so it makes perfect sense to me that he’d always want up-to-the-minute information. What I don’t understand is why all this paper is everywhere in the first place. So I ask him, why does he print it all out? Because he doesn’t like to read online. Does he read it once it’s printed? Well…no, he’s usually off to a meeting and plans to read it later. But he doesn’t get around to it. And he doesn’t file it either; his files are already stuffed with material that’s even older.
He does want to keep the printed-out company backgrounds, though. They provide a more complete picture of potential investments…even though when he needs a specific report he can’t put his hands on it. Yet, when I suggest he could get rid of all the piles by scanning them; that he’d be able to search effortlessly for whatever he needs whenever he needs it, he procrastinates. He agrees it’s the obvious solution; he doesn’t voice any objection, he doesn’t have a different suggestion; he just doesn’t get the scanner. He won’t let me get it for him, either.
I know it’s not the money. A good desktop scanner costs less than a one-way economy ticket to Paris, where Frank and his wife enjoy spending a few weekends a year. (And believe me, they never fly economy.) It’s not the time that scanning would take. I assure him I can train his assistant to do it all for him. It’s not his computer system. His IT consultant confirms it’s fully capable of handling the demands. So what is it?
He wants his office to be different, but he doesn’t want to do anything different. He’d have to change his habits. It would be uncomfortable; it would be painful.
Frank isn’t so different from a lot of people. In fact, there are many well-known sayings getting at this common phenomenon:
- No pain; no gain.
- You have to step outside your comfort zone.
- Without rain, there’s no rainbow.
- If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always have what you’ve always had.
Despite the fact that we recognize the truth in these sayings, it’s hard for most people to change. What does it take to push people over the edge? The pain of not taking action becomes greater than the pain of taking action. It’s that simple.
When it comes to changing habits, the pain has to become greater than the anticipated effort required to alleviate it. The effort of thinking through a complex issue and coming up with a solution can seem like too much trouble. Getting used to doing things a new way can seem like too much trouble. It’s easier in the short run to endure the pain of the status quo than to make changes that will eliminate that pain. Of course, in the long run, avoiding change just guarantees continued pain.
In order to correct something that’s not working right, you need to change. If you’ve developed habits that are costing you too much time, effort and money for the payback you’re getting, you need to change. Nobody hits on the perfect way to do everything right from the beginning, and businesses evolve. When you recognize a problem, you need to change.
Since change can feel awkward and uncomfortable as you move outside your comfort zone, think about getting input from someone else. A coach or consultant can help you see opportunities you haven’t recognized and show you ways to change with much less effort than you imagined.
One thing to keep in mind: for most people, the greater the effort they put into achieving a goal, the more they enjoy the success of reaching it. In other words, the more pain, the more gain. Change for the better is well worth it!
What do you think? Do you have a “more pain, more gain” story you’d like to share? Share your perspective in the comments below.
