Five Ideas to Help You Shape Change

In these interesting times, we’re faced with a choice. We can let things happen to us, or shape things to happen for us. Here are five ideas to help you shape change in your world. 

1. Cultivate Conviction 

Most of us think too small. The poet David Whyte says, “What you can plan is too small for you to live.” Listen to your restlessness. Then think big. What makes you angry? What’s the thing you most care about changing in your world? That conviction is your fuel. Work towards designing your days around that purpose.

If you could dedicate your life to solving one global problem, what would it be and why?

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2. Tap Curiosity

You know plenty of stuff. You’ll know even more when you open yourself to what you don’t know. Be curious. About yourself. About others. About the world. Ask curious questions, holding any preconceived notions at bay. Be open to learning, and be prepared to see ways forward that you could never see before.

If you could instantly become an expert in any field, what would you choose and how might it change your perspective on the world?

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3. Grow Your Network

It’s easier with others. Relationships make the work less about you, and more about the change you want to see. If you’re committed to making positive change in your world, chances are that others will also be. Who do you know? Who do they know who can help? When you connect, doors open. Broaden your network to accelerate your impact.

If you could assemble a diverse advisory board for your life or career, what types of people would you want on it and why?

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4. Be An Experimentalist

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” Forgive the old-school gendering from George Bernard Shaw, and listen to the sentiment behind it. Learn to think like a scientist. Have a hypothesis. Try something new and different. Learn from it. Keep moving forward.

If you were to design an experiment to challenge a widely-held belief in your organisation or industry, what would it look like?

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5. Know Your Superpowers

You’ll get marginal returns by working on your weaknesses. You’re more effective when you lead from your strengths. It’s simply easier to create an impact that way. Yet sometimes we’re blind to our strengths, and sometimes we’ll downplay them. That doesn’t serve the world. Do you know your superpowers? Are you using them to full effect?

If your friends or colleagues were to describe your unique talents, what do you think they would say?

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