Change is often an unavoidable constant in our lives. Sometimes it’s within our control other times it’s not. Our jobs or roles change, our businesses undergo restructures and re-designs within the strategies, the target markets, or products, and we need to be able to adjust.

Fortunately, there are ways to adapt to change, and even to take advantage of it.

• Find the humour in the situation. Trying to find a funny moment during an otherwise undesirable situation can be a fantastic way to create the levity needed to see a vexing problem from a new perspective. It can help others feel better as well.

• Talk about problems more than feelings. One of the most common myths of coping with unwanted changes is the idea that we can “work through” our anger, fears, and frustrations by talking about them a lot. This isn’t always the case. In fact, research shows that actively and repeatedly broadcasting negative emotions hinders our natural adaptation processes. That’s not to say you should just “suck it up” or ignore your troubles. Instead, call out your anxiety or your anger at the outset of a disorienting change so that you are aware of how it might distort your thinking or disrupt your relationships. Then look for practical advice about what to do next. By doing so, you’ll zero in on the problems you can solve, instead of lamenting the ones you can’t.

• Don’t stress out about stressing out. Our beliefs about stress matter, your reaction to stress has a greater impact on your health and success than the stress itself. If you believe stress kills you, it will. If you believe stress is trying to carry you over a big obstacle or through a challenging situation, you’ll become more resilient and may even live longer.

• Focus on your values instead of your fears. Reminding ourselves of what’s important to us, family, friends, religious convictions, scientific achievement, great music, creative expression, and so on — can create a surprisingly powerful buffer against whatever troubles may be ailing us.

• Accept the past but fight for the future. Even though we are never free from change, we are always free to decide how we respond to it. Instead, we should choose to accept the fact that change happens and employ our freedom to decide what to do next.

The adaptive leaders chose to view all changes, whether wanted or unwanted, as an expected part of the human experience, rather than as a tragic anomaly that victimizes unlucky people. Instead of feeling personally attacked by ignorant leaders, evil lawmakers, or an unfair universe, they remained engaged in their work and spotted opportunities to fix long-standing problems with customer service and to tweak antiquated pricing structures.

Although each of these techniques requires different skills to pull off — and you’ll probably gravitate toward some more than others — there’s one thing that you must do if you want to be more successful at dealing with change: accept it.

If you would like to learn how to adapt to a constantly changing economic landscape and business environment, contact us today.