3 Kinds of Change
There are different kinds of change. A simple way of looking at it would be to see that there are incremental changes, transitional changes, or transformative change. Of course as categories these are all up for dispute and are disputed but today we’re going for the short form discussion.
Incremental change is just that. It’s the progression of slow improvement. This is where organizations talk about continuous improvement. It’s about understanding where you are - usually with respect to how you perform a certain skill, habit or function. Making improvements or subtle changes that result in slightly better outcomes. This is the world of practice. This is the world of analysis and reflecting on particular behaviours or movements. This is how you go from the couch to running a 5K. You start small, you push the limit a little every day, and eventually you begin moving the needle towards the end you want to see.
Another kind of change is transitional this is where we make transitions and so this can be a change in circumstance or a change in context-where we make change to the structures around us and this can have an impact on our inner world and this can be shaping the long-term but doesn’t sort of change are internal how are wired kind of stuff so. For example if I have a job as a waiter and I get really good at it I make transition into a job as a host. As a host I maybe feel I have more power or status and so I begin to show up differently at the restaurant maybe with more arrogance or maybe with more humility but it hasn’t really changed me it’s just changed how others see me and this can have some temporary changes in who I am and how I show up. If I focus on using this position and the rewards that come with it in a disciplined way, I can begin to make incremental changes - say in my bank account. Working together, these two types of change can in the long run make a huge difference in where my life goes.
When people are interested in change or improvement, they often start by looking for a plan they can implement and see the changes they want. Starting here is great, but most of us find that a generic plan won’t get us what we really want. We do a blend of reflecting on what we like and dislike about ourselves, contrast it against an image we have of some more ideal or future state - way to reflect and understand their personality or how they cope with stress or adversity and how they relate in certain situations. Organizations do all kinds of testing on their people to understand how to best facilitate their performance and build effective teams. Beyond organizations, many people reach for a broader understanding of themselves for a few key reasons.
The last kind of change is transformational. When I speak of transformation change, I am almost always referring to a shift in our inner world. The way we see the world, ourselves, and the meaning we make - and how we relate to, our lives. For me, the idea of transformation gets at the idea of consciousness in addition to the realities of body, mind and heart. Now, like most other words that people use, the word transformation is maybe over used - and can be used to refer to some dramatic outward change - like weight loss, or a makeover or something like this. While this may be a dramatic change, what was required for that change would have been attention to diet and habits over time. While it is significant change, change of habits and time did the work. We talk about transformational change that requires not only time, and habit but as also something that requires a kind of co-creating or cooperating with the broader context or the broader horizon of what’s going on in your life.
Incremental change is about practice, habits, and activities. Transition is more a process of moving gradually from one stable way of being to another stable way of being. Education can be like this. Transformation is about moving to be a different kind of person - with a different awareness, different priorities and values, - a different way of being in the world.
“The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is master of himself if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence.”
Building Attentional Muscle
Knowing ourselves is a lifelong journey and the result of constant practice. It requires ongoing attention and just when we think we have it, there is more to uncover and learn. This is one of the gifts of life.
Without developing our capacity to bring our attention to our thoughts, behaviours, reactions, feelings, - our body- we live largely out of habit. This habitual way of living is sometimes called a kind of waking sleep. You can still be successful in the state of waking sleep but you will miss out on a truly fulfilled life. A conscious and intentional life.
One thing that contributes to the intentional practice of you is building attentional muscle. This happens through a consistent effort to notice where your attention goes; make some sense of this and then pull yourself back to a particular focus.
The development of your “inner witness” or learning to pull yourself into a process of “self-remembering” is critical. This is how we build our capacity to more fully develop our selves.
It is the misalignment of our asleep / habituated way of being and the craving for authenticity, vitality, and presence that causes much of our dissatisfaction / unhappiness and suffering. What I mean by this is that, for most of us, our attentional habits - at least where they come to our selves - have by and large been formed without our conscious involvement. They have been adaptive or reactive - and so we have little natural skill at reorienting ourselves and illuminating our shadow or blindspots. We can also feel like we are less than empowered to deal with the dissatisfaction that comes from living out of this place.
Beginning to build your attentional muscle isn’t rocket science, but it can help to have a process to hold to. David Daniels - suggested a simplified “Universal Growth Process” which has some alignment with others like Otto Scharmer’s work on his Theory U. These and many others try and capture this idea that finding effective or lasting change requires - in some form or another - a process for continually developing self-mastery.
For ease - I’ll quickly remind you of these which Daniels describes as,
Awareness- practices that increase our capacity to see beyond ourselves. Self observation and becoming present.
Acceptance - moving into an open place. Understanding that our reactivity - tension, anger, defensiveness, reactive action, complaint and criticism are most often adaptive strategies structured into our ways of relating - not who we are or who we are invited to become.
Appreciation - having the mental and emotional capacity to realize the gifts / strengths that are revealing themselves in the moment. Appreciatively presencing
Action - Noticing | Creating Space | Containing not suppressing; Inquiry to discover, discern and work with whatever reactivity arises; Developing an inner coach.
Adherence -Committing to regular habits and building supporting systems.
The key in all of these parts of the growth process is to hold your attention in ways that make the work possible and even effective.
