Don't be afraid of change; it just might be what you need.

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THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATION:

Don't be afraid of change; it just might be what you need.

People are strange.

We grow taller and sometimes wider, but we are baffled and often apoplectic when circumstances change.

Despite knowing intellectually that everything is temporary, we tend to operate under the assumption that nothing should change and that once things are where we want them, they will remain that way.

It’s true—change is hard. It’s also true that resistance to change makes things harder.

In my estimation, Jason Feifer, the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, is one of the best at simplifying ideas to level up your professional and personal growth. He also has a newsletter you should subscribe to on Beehiiv called One Thing Better.

In his book, Build for Tomorrow, Feifer examines why people feel so powerless in the face of change and explains why trying to stop the change will only clip your wings in the long run.

Feifer knows about success and failure, change and stasis, and how to adopt a growth mindset when we too often settle for fixed. Panicking at change means missing some lucky chances, but reframing the situation can allow us to see change as an opportunity.

Feifer tells the story of John Sousa, who composed “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” the national march of the United States. Sousa was a household name, an artist who packed concert halls.

That is, until the phonograph was invented and became accessible to the broader public. Sousa panicked: Concert halls were no longer necessary to hear music. You could now play the concert at home.

Then came the radio.

Now fomenting and at the height of his panic, Sousa began a misinformation campaign to eradicate all new technologies. In his pursuit to convince his fellow musicians, Sousa published articles defaming technology, warning that it threatened bonds between mothers, babies, and humankind.

He pushed back against it with everything he had.

Sousa could only see this next evolution in music as a threat instead of as … evolution. He couldn’t envision how to use these changes to his advantage.

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