“Change is the only thing that’s constant.”
To survive, you got to change. You might have heard stories of people pivoting their startups, businesses and lives.
Here’s one of my favourite stories:
In Dec 1922, Ernest Hemingway was in Switzerland for a conference.
The journalist and editor Lincoln Steffens was also there.
Steffens liked Hemingway’s writing and wanted to see more.
Hemingway’s wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson was in Paris. They got married a year ago.
Hemingway used to write fiction and he asked her to bring all his work.
She packed everything in a single suitcase including
the originals, the carbon copies, and all handwritten notes.
While the train was at a station, she went to get some water and when she got back, the suitcase was gone.
She met Hemingway and told him everything that happened.
He didn’t believe her and rushed back to Paris.
She wasn’t lying. All his work was lost.
He hadn’t published anything till now and rather than giving up, he found an interesting way to adapt.
With the pressure of time, Hemingway changed his writing style.
Shorter sentences & cleaner paragraphs. He could write faster this way.
Four years later, The Sun Also Rises was published and become a bestseller.
In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.
To survive, Hemingway had to change. He pivoted.
We live in a world where changing your opinions and views is considered a bad thing to do.
But why do we expect people to have consistent opinions when the world is constantly changing.
Whenever Leonardo da Vinci got an idea, he experimented with it.
If the results didn’t match with the theory, He abandoned his theory and sought a new one.
Be ready to change our minds based on new info.
Be open-minded. Respect Facts.
If you can’t make huge changes, start small. To survive you have to change.
Let me share the other side of the coin.
Yes, change is survival but that does not mean you don’t focus on things that don’t change.
“Don’t ask “What’s going to change in the next 10 years? Ask “What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?
– Jeff Bezos
In the book, The lessons of history the authors shared this 👇
“Since we have admitted no significant change in man’s nature throughout history
All technological advances are merely new means of achieving old ends:-
- the acquisition of goods,
- the pursuit of sex,
- the overcoming of competition,
- the fighting of wars,
Human nature hasn’t changed much. Let’s focus on learning and understanding human nature better.
Conclusion:
For Survival, Focus on change. For security, focus on what won’t change.