Old Dog

Want to Change Your Life? Change Your mind.

Besides being your favorite slogan and the underlying punchline for every post written here, this is quite effective when practiced. Unfortunately, it can often find itself demoted to the “do as I say, not as I do” place in our lives. I once had a boss tell me, “I haven’t changed in 10 years.” Yet the expectation was for me to grow. How ironic.

10 years from now will you just be older or better?

When was the last time you changed your mind? I’m not talking about you planned on eating Wendy’s for lunch and instead got Chick-fil-a, or some other capricious and relatively inconsequential decision (but dietary decisions are important). But a thoughtful and intentional change.

They say you can’t teach on old dog new tricks. Is that because the dog is old, or because the dog is no longer teachable? Think of how much we learn during the first 18-24 years of our life, and how quickly the learning deaccelerates thereafter. Is that because our brain switches to aging in dog-years and it suddenly becomes old? Or is it simply we think we have arrived at an acceptable level of knowing and now we can do whatever we want. Sadly, learning is not something most people want to do. But the result is a boring, unchanging, unhappy life. If you’re unhappy with something, change.

Do Something Different

Technology is changing. Seasons are changing. Why do we fight so hard to stay the same? Embrace it and roll with it. Even better, beat the competition by making an intentional effort to change. Be proactive and increase your rate of change. If you change as fast as everyone else, you are not in control. You are simply being carried along with whatever current you are streaming in. And that stream is usually controlled by some mega-corporation’s marketing funnel.

If you like it, lean into it. If not, step out. But don’t just erase but replace. Replace that otherwise wasted and ineffective use of your time with focused effort on whatever area is undeveloped, insufficient, problematic or just plain boring. You have nothing but time and opportunity.

Yes, it can be unsettling and intimidating. Yes, it will be uncomfortable and cause some anxiety. But what, why and when do you want to learn? It’s worth it. Do you want to be the dog on the leash performing the same lame tricks for the same lame treats for another decade? Or would you rather unhook the leash and realize you are not a dog, and start learning to do new and hard things that provide far more benefit to your life than a tasty snack?

Stupid is as stupid does, right? How about “old is as old does”?

I once heard a man (who wasn’t a politician) during a Q&A give this disclaimer: “I reserve the right to be smarter next year and give you a different answer.” What did that mean? He was always learning, and if he discovered information that warranted him changing his mind, he would. It means he was being proactive.

Think of all the information we consume. Is any of it challenging what you and I think and how we behave, or simply proving our genius? Surely there is something that could or should change.

Want to change your life? Change your mind. Want someone else to change their life? Change their mind. But don’t be like my old boss…