Change Can Suck ...

I have found that creating change in other people can be difficult. Reasoned argument rarely works when discussing politics, religion or even philosophy. People are mostly, very wedded to their ideologies and will becoming very creative or even violent, in defence of those ideologies. This should come as no real surprise however, when we stop to think how difficult it is to create change for our very selves. Most of us are loathe to change.

I am theorising that change is difficult because for most of our ancestors, trying new things would have come at a significant cost. Eating that new food was risky, meeting that new tribe was risky, moving to that new environment was risky. So we have a little voice inside us, that for a very, very long time has been whispering - stay where you are, don’t try anything new - stick with what worked for you yesterday. 

In short, there is often a heavy price-tag for taking risks. 

On the mat, this can also be true. Try a new technique; have it fail, get smashed in return. Go back to what we were doing before (old routines)

But let’s stop for a moment and consider this question … what is the ‘actual’ price-tag of trying something new? Well, nowadays, you can pretty much bet that if you try a new food you buy in the supermarket - you will not die a horrible death as a consequence. So the price tag is small. 

On the mat, you try a new move, it goes badly and your opponent taps you out .. hey, not heavy bad price-tag; cheap in fact. A little ego bruising is all - if that; if you care enough. So next time, you think about creating a new direction, trying something new … consider the price tag - consider how small it might actually be. And go for it! - JBW