Dynamic stability?

If you want continuous success 2012 you need to be flexible. Adapting to changes in your environment, quickly building and rebuilding to keep performing at the peak of your ability. These are your main needs 2012. If you are a business.

If you want continuous success 2012 you need to be flexible. Adapting to changes in your environment, quickly building and rebuilding to keep performing at the peak of your ability. These are your main needs 2012. If you are a business.

If you are a human being your main needs are slightly different. To keep performing at the peak of your ability you will need to rest, recover and refill. In order to be flexible you need some point of reference, some focus of control something that is consistent. Without which you may just be being chaotic rather than flexible.

Both these factors are a source of security. A security we are dependent upon to be able to perform and be flexible.

Now, there are different ways to approach this. One way is to create an environment that doesn’t change. An environment where routines can be built, tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today, no surprises, no disappointments, nothing bad can happen. In other words, we create security by controlling our outer environment.

If this has ever been possible it is certainly not so now. And we all know it. Ok, we can try to cover up, hide from reality, avoid facing the facts pretty much the way Basil Fawlty runs his hotel. We maybe all do this more or less but the effort needed and the energy spent is definitely taking its toll. Not to mention the consequences this behaviour has for the way things (don’t) work.

So what is the alternative to controlling your environment?
Self control. No, I don’t mean gritting your teeth and keeping a stiff upper lip, I am talking about self management or self leadership. Taking charge, being in control, stepping up to the challenge using your full potential in a wise way to deal with whatever situation you meet. Using your creativity, your personality, your perceptual, emotional and physical skills to interact with the environment. Not controlling it. Interacting with it in a beneficial way whatever form it takes.

Which of these two alternatives has the potential to actually work and give a lasting feeling of security? Hoping for everything to stay the way it is so you can do what you have always done? Or building an inner stability, feeling confidence in your ability to deal with a changing environment? A static stability dependent on nothing changing, or a dynamic stability as a source of security in a changing dynamic world? The choice is your’s.