How to adapt to change in life.
Change isn’t easy.
In fact, it can be downright disorienting.
Our lives go through many different changes as we grow, develop, and move through the different phases of our journey.
Even if everything goes according to plan, you’re still likely going to go from being a child, to being a student, to being in college, to being a member of the workforce, to being a parent, then a grandparent, then to retirement, etc.
Life is certainly full of change.
But here’s the important thing to remember.
If we want to make the most of life, and if we want to have the best experience possible, then it’s in our best interest to remember that adapting to change, making the most of it, and seeing our goals through despite the changes are all crucial principles of success.
But how do you do this?
This is a good question.
And in this post, you’re going to learn 7 steps for how to adapt to change in life without compromising on your goals or losing your way on the path.
Let’s dive into it.
When your life changes, you’re going to be thrown into a sort of ‘disorganized state’ that can sometimes threaten to distract you from your ultimate path or goal.
It’s really important that you prevent this from happening.
Sometimes, changes bring about necessary and beneficial adjustments in direction.
What you want to avoid is making the mistake of allowing these changes to shape your destiny despite your goals, instead of you guiding your own destiny in accordance with your goals and vision for the future.
This speaks to the power of living on purpose.
So slow down for a minute when your life goes through major changes.
You might even want to take a weekend off, go on a small vacation, or even give yourself a ‘retreat’ to take stock of the situation and give yourself a moment to process and strategize in the face of major life changes.
This one step can sometimes make all the difference between thriving through change and falling apart within it.
It’s always important to reflect back on those long-term goals for your future when you’re going through change.
Will this change bring about any necessary revisions to your goal statements?
Why or why not?
Going through big life changes doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to change your goals.
However, sometimes changes bring about new opportunities or ideas that can help you to revise your goals and pivot in an even better direction.
Remember that when it comes to goal setting, you want to stay consistent and focused on the objective.
However, when you’re learning how to adapt to change in life, you always want to make sure that you allow some time for review and revision during major life transitions.
You may end up changing your goals slightly during this season of change—either to take advantage of a new opportunity, to expand on a new idea, or even just because your vision has changed due to the transition you’re going through in life.
And there’s nothing wrong with any of this. In fact, now is the perfect time to do it.
We always want to be adaptable in life.
But it’s important that you make sure to do it intentionally.
Living intentionally, even while your goals are changing, is crucially important.
You always want to keep your future vision in mind and in focus.
Staying positive is another crucial ingredient to learning how to adapt to change in life without sacrificing your goals or sliding backward on the path.
The world is sometimes full of negativity.
But it’s important that you keep this negative mindset out of your ears, brain, and soul.
Try to spend more time around positive people, and plug motivational, positive, uplifting messages into your ears.
Then, keep your eyes set on your vision and continue the journey.
Sometimes, big changes scare us—and for good reason.
See, humans are creatures of habit at heart.
They’re adaptable, and tend to weather changes surprisingly well.
However, they’re also quite well known for their capacity for fear and anxiety.
And if you’re going through a major life change, you may be afraid on many different levels.
Fear is a pretty natural thing.
However, it’s always in your best interest to try to manage it—and to remember that you’re bigger than your problems.
You can get through this, even if it seems difficult right now.
Just stick to those goals and your vision of the future, and don’t give up on it.
I’m a huge proponent of dreaming big dreams, turning those dreams into goals, and writing those goals down to create a roadmap for success.
I absolutely believe that this has been the key to success for many incredible and amazing people throughout history.
And I know for a fact that it has been the key to my success.
A lot of people neglect this.
But science tells us that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve those goals than people who don’t.
(Science also tells us that people who write down their goals and get an accountability partner are more likely to succeed than people who just write down their goals.)
This is important stuff.
Goal setting is a powerful tool that can be used to help you shape your life as you see fit.
With that being said, it’s important to stay committed.
You need to write down your daily goals every single day.
And you need to either write down (or at least review) your long-term goals on a daily basis as well.
This includes short, medium, and long-term goals.
This may seem like a lot of work—and granted, can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on exactly what method you’re using and/or which goal planner you’re using.
But you don’t even necessarily need a goal planner to start setting goals. You can even organize your life with a simple notebook.
But here’s the thing.
If you stay consistent and committed to your goal-setting habit, then even if you go through life changes, you’ll still be equipped to deal with them in the best manner possible.
If you haven’t yet started your own goal-setting process, sign up for my email list to get a free copy of my Goal Setting Essentials Starter Kit and get started on the journey today.
At the end of the day, it’s really important not to give up on yourself, your life, and your vision.
Life gets hard, and changes can throw us out of balance in no time flat.
But in all of this imbalance, it’s important to remain true to your course, stay committed to your goals, and continue to pursue the life you want to create for yourself, your family, and your future.
In other words…
Don’t give up.
It really does matter.
Adapting to change isn’t easy.
There’s always a ‘fear factor’ involved when we go through life changes.
Plus, as humans, we tend to feel the safest when we know exactly what’s going to happen in life and can prepare for it adequately.
Change brings about a lot of unknowns.
And a lot of people struggle to adapt to changes because of the unknowns that changes can present in life.
So it’s understandable to struggle with it.
But it’s also true that if you stick with your goal-setting habit and stay committed to your vision, you can get through it and probably even find opportunity in it—both in the short term and in the long term.
Adapting to change, rather than allowing it to knock us down, slow us down, or derail us completely, is important.
This basically means that we need to get relatively good at rolling with the punches.
It’s always in our best interest to tap into that ‘human spirit of adaptability,’ and find a way to land on our feet—despite going through changes in life.
It’s all about intentionality and staying focused on the things that really matter.
We should adapt to change because life is too important to allow change to derail us.
You have a lot of potential.
You have goals, a vision for the future, and a plan.
Adapting to change is going to be necessary as you move through the different phases in life, navigate new opportunities, and face the unknown frontiers of progress.
So keep on keeping on, and don’t relent. You can do it.
And it’s important to do it because your vision and your goals are important.
It’s important to understand that being afraid of change is natural.
You can’t really get rid of fear.
Overcoming it, rather, is really a matter of facing it, learning to understand why you’re afraid, and then continuing onward with a great plan that’ll help you to overcome the potential dangers and challenges associated with it.
This is also how we grow stronger as humans.
Hopefully, this post has given you some useful information that’ll help you with understanding not only how to adapt to change in life, but also how you can leverage some strategic goal-setting techniques to help you maximize your success in the midst of these changes.
Of course, at the end of the day, this is just another part of the larger, overarching process of turning your dreams into goals, and writing those goals down to create a roadmap for success in your life.
This is how you begin your journey to success and crush it.
Need some help? Download my weekly goal-setting sheet, print out a few, and give it a try.
You’ve got this. I believe in you.
Now it’s time to get to work.
Best wishes…
Jay O’Donnell
