One Tiny Change

I’m writing this post from my new, top-secret writing location. And today, within this top-secret writing location I’m sitting in an even more secret hiding place.

I’ve come here before, several times in fact. And I’ve always sat in the same area.

Yesterday, I realized that I was annoyed and uncomfortable and so I started to take some notes.

Surprise! There were some good reasons why I wasn’t getting as much done.

Too much noise. Too much smoke. Too many distractions.

How did I not notice this before? I had to change my location.

Wait. Haven’t I already learned this?

For a period in my 20s I taught English as a second language. Sometimes I taught in a classroom, other times I went directly to my students’ workplace.

Regardless of where I was teaching, who my students were and how many people were in the classroom, at the beginning of the class, I always noticed the same phenomenon play itself out.

Day after day, week after week, everyone sat in the same exact chair.

This is all sounding familiar.

When I was in school, most of the teachers would seat us alphabetically by last name. I was always at the front, and I hated it.

The cooler teachers would let us sit wherever we liked, and I’d usually sit in the back, just because it felt different. But even then, we’d all usually sit in the same seat every time so that we could be next to our friends.

And then there were some teachers who would randomly mix us up every now and then. New seating arrangements! The horrors! I remember the other students’ reactions as being a mixture of bewilderment and indignation.

Guys, I’m about to say something really original and wise.

Are you ready? Yeah?

Write this one down: we tend to resist change.

Okay, so this is not news to anyone. Yet, sometimes we can forget how often it is true, especially when it comes to seemingly unimportant changes.

We resist change even when the change doesn’t seem like a drastic one. Even when our current choices are totally not working for us.

Here in my top-secret location, I sat in the same noisy, smoky area for several days. I would resent the shouting of the students sitting next to me and sigh inwardly every time I heard the skritching sound of a cigarette lighter.

And yet, all I had to do was get up and move.

Now I’ve found the perfect spot. Fewer distractions, no smoke, not a single loud student. A better view, even. Only a few steps away from my previous spot. To think it only took me a couple weeks to figure this out (rolling eyes at self).

I wish I could go back in time to a few weeks ago, tap on my own shoulder and tell myself to just change location for goodness’ sake.

And again, and again.

I’ve been seeing this all over the place, even when there’s no benefit whatsoever to staying in one place. Case in point: Rally!

At Rally, we spent most of the day working on our projects in a large, shared space (oh, Playground! How I miss you). We were encouraged to change our “locations” as many times as we liked during the three days of Rally, in part because changing location can help move a project along. Okay, I thought, that makes sense.

And yet, I (and I think others too) found myself drawn to a certain area. It seemed like the right spot. It became familiar. And I got stuck there, physically and mentally.

I’d continue pushing on in my chosen spot, trying to persevere, almost as if I were thinking if I just stay here long enough…

Oh, hello, pattern.

Even then, all I had to do was get up and change my location.

Once I realized this, the ideas started to flow.

At the Playground, there are no teachers to tell us what to do, and it’s far from being loud and smoky. And yet, it was still easy to fall back into old patterns. 

I’m interested in whatever it is that makes us stay put, when it’s clear that moving would make everything better. Why do we push ourselves? Are we hoping for a reward of some kind for our efforts? A shiny gold medal in Refusing to Change?

This is not just about physical location. Of course.

It applies to all the ways we can make one tiny change but don’t. If you think about it, the ways we could create a tiny change and see huge results are practically infinite.

Now I’m wondering what other tweaks I could make today to see some big shifts.

Because strangely enough, some big shifts seem to come not with big change, but with tiny changes.

COMMENTS: I’d love to hear about the little tweaks you’ve made, or the ways you’re experimenting with creating shifts both big and small.

Where does your resistance show up? What sorts of things have you discovered?

(As always, around here we treat everyone with kindness and respect, because we are awesome, naturally. And part of showing that respect is not offering unsolicited advice or making judgments.)

Waving to you from my top-secret location! Hee hee, nobody will ever find me here!