That's certainly an apt and pertinent quote from former US President Barack Obama.

One of the most productive lessons I have had picked up during the late eighties or early nineties is the following inspiring quote from quality guru Dr Edwards Deming:

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”

As I have understood, in order to change for the better and smarter in whatever we do, we just have to take a proactive stance in our personal change process.

Vision, goals and values are important things, and so is a personal strategy formulation, but more importantly, are self-motivation, diligence, discipline and tenacity.

That's to say, we have to force change into our life, consistently and massively, to paraphrase internationally acclaimed peak performance strategist Anthony Robbins.

If we don't force the change upon our own life, we will always remain in status quo.

Naturally, change comes with discomforts and uncertainties, but that's part of life's journey. We are all born to tackle problems and challenges in one way or another.

I have had the opportunity to go through this tough learning curve myself, because had I stayed back in the corporate world during the early nineties, and even if I had won the rat race, I would still be a rat.

That thought wasn't comforting.

THE STATUS QUO HAS NO STATUS

Just as Dilip Mukerjea  often exhorts:

"Unless you keep learning and growing (which means change), the status quo has no status!"

CHANGE CREATES CONSEQUENCES, CONSEQUENCES CREATE CHANGE

The overriding observation that emerges from the process of evolution is that:

Should we permit change to overwhelm us?

Shouldn't we be proactive in anticipating change, then flowing with it, or better still, in effecting change, and having a flow with us?

Furthermore, if humans have emerged so dominant from an initial position of significant inferiority, we should consider: to be in business today, it is time for us to take up the business of imagination.

Imaginative thoughts led to action, which effected constantly improving change. This process drove the march towards civilisation. By thinking, feeling, and doing, we are able to continually change the architecture of the brain.

By constantly stimulating our brains, by seeking out novelty, according value, and imbuing passion into our endeavours, we begin to appreciate now dynamically kaleidoscopic our brains really are.

Here's a thought for you:

What are you clinging on to that is no longer relevant?

What must you give up in order to realise your destiny?

Answer these questions and enjoy a return on your imagination!

[Excerpted from 'Brain Symphony: Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

Say Keng shares his personal experience:

The pertinent questions posed by Dilip Mukerjea were more or less the same questions that had confronted me during the early nineties, when I was contemplating what to do with the second half of my life.

I was then 43 years old, working in quiet desperation as a corporate rat, looking good, but going nowhere.

I then realised that for things to change around me, I got to change first. To be the change I wanted to see in my life, so to speak.

So, I left the corporate world, where I had spent twenty four years of my working life, to pursue my passion: reading. I started a small, but unique, book store - that's how I met Dilip Mukerjea; published a newsletter; & established a consultancy outfit for small business. The rest was history.

In retrospect, & with the wisdom of hindsight, I dare to say this: your life will change in direct proportion to the degree that you change.

Also, your personal rate of change must preferably be higher than the external rate of change in the environment. For me, this resonates well with management guru Peter Drucker's insightful advice:

'One cannot manage change; one can only be ahead of it!"

Frankly, in a nut shell, I want to conclude that change is all about you:

- knowing yourself;
- knowing what you want;
- exploring how to get what you want;
- studying & understanding your environment;
- developing a strategy & following it through;
- using whatever resources you have, e.g. imagination;
- managing yourself effectively & efficiently;
- paying attention to your own results;
- making your corrections, where appropriate; &
- connecting effortlessly with everyone else in your life;