Quotes About Change

You can only work exactly the same way, at the same pace, doing the same work for so long before monotony bites.

Much corporate anxiety comes from the realization that the company has been doing the wrong thing, but it's too late to change direction because of the "Plan." "We've got to see it through!" Seeing a bad idea through just because at one point it sounded like a good idea is a tragic waste of energy and talent.

Change makes things worse all the time. It's easier to fuck up something that's working well than it is to genuinely improve it. But we commonly delude ourselves into thinking that more time, more investment, more attention is always going to win.

You have to keep asking yourself if the way you're working today is the way you'd want to work in 10, 20, or 30 years. If not, now is the time to make a change, not "later.

We've frequently been trapped by things that used to work well but no longer do.

If you stop thinking that you must change the world, you lift a tremendous burden off yourself and the people around you. There's no longer this convenient excuse for why it has to be all work all the time. The opportunity to do another good day's work will come again tomorrow, even if you go home at a reasonable time.

What we do repeatedly hardens into habits. The longer you carry on, the tougher it is to change. All your best intentions about doing the right thing "later" are no match for the power of habits.

You'll often hear that people don't like change, but that's not quite right. People have no problem with change they asked for. What people don't like is forced change—change they didn't request on a timeline they didn't choose. Your "new and improved" can easily become their "what the fuck?" when it is dumped on them as a surprise.

Always keeping the door open to radical changes only invites chaos and second-guessing.

If you want to make a product better, you have to keep tweaking, revising, and iterating. The same thing is true with a company.

People have no problem with change they asked for. What people don't like is forced change—change they didn't request on a timeline they didn't choose. Your "new and improved" can easily become their "what the fuck?" when it is dumped on them as a surprise.

People are creatures of habit. That's why they react to change in such a negative way. They're used to using something in a certain way and any change upsets the natural order of things. So they push back. They complain. They demand that you revert to the way things were. But that doesn't mean you should act. Sometimes you need to go ahead with a decision you believe in, even if it's unpopular at first.

new customers today expect something different than new customers did a decade ago.

When calm starts early, calm becomes the habit. But if you start crazy, it'll define you. You have to keep asking yourself if the way you're working today is the way you'd want to work in 10, 20, or 30 years. If not, now is the time to make a change, not "later.

Accept that better ideas aren't necessarily better if they arrive after the train has left the station. If they're so good, they can catch the next one.

Later is where excuses live. Later is where good intentions go to die. Later is a broken back and a bent spirit. Later says "all-nighters are temporary until we've got this figured out." Unlikely. Make the change now.

Si hubiera hecho caso a mis clientes,  les habría proporcionado un caballo más rápido. HENRY FORD

This real world sounds like an awfully depressing place to live. It's a place where new ideas, unfamiliar approaches, and foreign concepts always lose. The only things that win are what people already know and do, even if those things are flawed and inefficient.

In this world very few leaps of progress arrive exclusively as benefits

Sometimes you need to say, "We're going in a new direction because that's what makes sense today.

A lot of companies focus on the next big thing. They latch on to what's hot and new. They follow the latest trends and technology. That's a fool's path. You start focusing on fashion instead of substance. You start paying attention to things that are constantly changing instead of things that last.

Unless you're a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy.

What you do is your legacy. Don't sit around and wait for someone else to make the change you want to see. And don't think it takes a huge team to make that difference either.

In fact, for many, the hybrid approach is the right place to start. If you still want people in the office every day, change that requirement to every afternoon instead. Then let your troops have their mornings to themselves. You may be surprised to find out more work gets done this way.