Change, Growth and Your Comfort Zone!

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." — George Bernhard Shaw

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."— Frederick Douglas

"There is nothing permanent except change."— Heraclitus

"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up."

— James Belasco and Ralph Stayer

"The only easy day was yesterday."— Navy SEAL motto

Growing up as the son of an Air Force officer, I moved a lot as a young child. Matter of fact, I moved eight times before I was 15. At the time, it was often difficult to leave friends, start new schools, move to a new house, and learn new routines. As a young child, my only option was to accept these changes and make the most of every situation. The reality of change was an inevitability I knew all too well. Every move was often emotionally difficult and, as I grew older, each move was more challenging for me. At the time, I often resented what the Air Force did to me--little did I know the gift I was receiving. As I have grown older, I view these many moves differently. I think about all of the hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people I would have never known, met, and learned from if I had not moved as often as I did. While still occasionally envious of people who rarely moved, I would not change my experiences for anything. These experiences of meeting new people, adapting to new environments and developing new routines prepared me for a career in education.

Why do I share this story? Because there is probably no greater profession than education constantly inundated with Change. Ironically, the whole process of learning requires an ongoing change from each individual and we, as educators, are constantly searching for a better way to help our students change, which is also a form of change. I am a much different--and I hope better--teacher than I was 28 years ago. If we were to take a class and not learn anything new, we would feel as though our time was wasted. If we are not somehow challenged by a class or a subject, we are often bored and disinterested. Inherent in change is challenge and challenge is a result of a destabilizing of our personal equilibrium, shifting our frame of mind or simply growing our knowledge. I often tell my students, "The path of least resistance is downhill." This is a slightly less poetic version of the Frederick Douglas quote from above. Additionally, I tell my students to embrace the uneasy feeling resulting from learning something new or difficult. We all know the feeling; the queasy feeling in our stomach, the negative self-talk, and the paralyzing fear and self-doubt. When you experience these feelings do not retreat! Charge forward! You are on the verge of something new and special.

As we grow and try to change, we must push against the comfort zone. Why else are diets and exercise routines so hard to maintain? Change can hurt. Change can fill us with self-doubt. Change can also be equally exhilarating and rewarding. Regardless, if we allow the comfort zone to become our norm, the arrows reverse and we actually begin to regress. The red circle gets smaller. If we are not getting better, then we are getting worse. It seems this time of year, the idea of change is something many people talk about. However, genuine change does not need the date of January 1 to be embraced. The greatest obstacle for many individuals to embrace change is risking failure. Have you ever watched a little baby begin to walk? There is no fear. There is a great deal of energy from the child followed by a lot of failed attempts, followed by some improvement and more effort to the task. The result? Mastery of the task and personal growth. Babies do not know enough, or maybe they know more than we think, but they do not fear failure. Language works similarly. They say we learn a large percentage of our knowledge in the first five years of our life before we have learned to fear failure. How can we harness the innocence of youth back in our learning and teaching to help students, and ourselves, embrace growth, challenges, and change?

A great deal of the research on teaching suggests high achievement by students is the result of high expectations from teachers. What are high expectations? Nothing more than encouraging, demanding, challenging and requiring our students to push out of their comfort zones. As a professional, are you holding yourself to those same high expectations? Are you embracing change, personally and professionally?

As previously stated, some of us limit our expectations out of a fear of failure.  Does this fear keep you from pursuing your passions or helping your students pursue theirs? What would we attempt without these fears? How high would we reach? How high could our students reach? How can we create an environment for our students to feel safe enough to risk possible failure? What can we do to help students embrace the possibilities of change? How do we model risk-taking for our students? How can we create an environment where students want to accept challenges, some may say, are beyond them?

Words can be powerful. Words such as:

• You can...
• You should...
• We will...
• We must...
• You could be great...
• That was great, but let us try again...
• Keep it up!
• Embrace the struggle...
• Challenge yourself...
• What have you done today to make yourself better?
• Failure is OK! 
• Learn and evaluate.
• Quitting is not an option!

All of these phrases can provide students with the necessary fuel to push forward when faced with the uneasiness of change. After sharing these phrases with our students, we need to then model these behaviors for our students. Do we only celebrate the successful students? If so, what message does this send? Do we celebrate the student who failed but kept trying and continued to grow? If yes, does this lower our standards and reward failure? Additionally, do we send an even more powerful message to our students by acknowledging these students? How do we handle failure with our students? When we fail, do we blame, make excuses or do we find ways to approach things differently as a result of thoughtful reflection? Do we exhibit risk-taking? Are we growing or are we alright with the status quo? 

Dream what you want for your students then find a way to make it a reality. The reality may require you to change, for them to change or the people around you to change. Regardless, embrace the uneasiness of change and learn to accept this feeling as something great is about to happen. The beginning of the next semester is a perfect time to start. Charge forward with the eagerness of a young child and the knowledge of an adult. We must accept that change will occur. Each change presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

Can we find the opportunity in every challenge? We have a choice. We can be the agent of change or wait to have change thrust upon us. Either way, change is coming.

Food for thought!