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Why is it so Hard to Change?

10 Apr

Posted by Steve as Other

I wrote a guest post for Craig Harper titled, Why is it so Hard to Change? Hop over to his site and read it. I put a lot of time and research into this so I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s one of the better Personal Development posts I’ve written.

I want to thank Craig for the opportunity to reach his audience. Craig has one of greatest audiences on the internet. They are engaged, intelligent, and (most of all) motivated.

I haven’t had much time to write this week… so stay tuned… I appreciate your patience.

8 Responses

Catherine Todd

April 13th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
1

“I Love Steve Olson” said John Chow dot come…

Me, too! Thanks so much for posting this wonderful blog. Just what I need to read!
John

April 15th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
2

Great post! I always love reading developmental posts and learning something new. I hadn’t known about Craig’s site, so thanks for pointing it out!
Jeff Miller

April 16th, 2008 at 7:59 am
3

I know this doesn’t really belong here, but I thought I’d post it anyway.

This news story that I linked to at the bottom is really sort of ridiculous. These kids have wasted their youth, and it looks as if they’re intent on continuing to do so. Despite looking impeccable on paper, many of these “ambitious” kids can’t tell their ass from a hole the ground. I’m not sure attending an Ivy League will change that, and in all likelihood, it will probably exacerbate it.

The formula for success, if you want to call it such, that encourages this sort of behavior is obviously broken. It’d be interesting to revisit these kids in thirty years to see how many have become alcoholics, are divorced and have dysfunctional families, and wish they had not wasted their youth pursuing a path that would take lead them to unhappiness.

Now, it’s unfair to say attending an Ivy League is what leads to unhappiness; however, it’s a person’s behavior (i.e., what they must do in order to get there) that sets them up for a lifetime of unhappiness. Most of these kids have their daily schedules planned out ten years in advance. Unfortunately, they forget to include “being a kid” in their schedule. No time for dating, no time for prom, no time for friends, because none of that will fit in a schedule that was designed for the sole purpose of making the kid look better when compared to 10,000 other lost youths by an undergraduate admissions board.

The better route would be to take all of that ambition and determination and funnel it into ventures more productive. Date, go to prom, make plenty of friends, build relationships, experience your youth, and enjoy life as much as possible while it’s still relatively care-free. Of course, that means you will not be attending Harvard, much less graduating first in the class from there, but last time I checked, there was nothing wrong with graduating first in the class from a state school, or even a smaller private school. Even though it may not have the name recognition as “Harvard” or “Yale”, that doesn’t really matter. If a person is that ambitious and determined to succeed in life, then it should not matter where the person goes. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that even attending college derails the truly ambitious from being as successful as they otherwise could be, a la Bill Gates, etc.

Sadly, most kids foster the delusion that the only way to success and happiness is through the gates of the Ivy League. On the contrary, it can be very successfully argued that while such a path might lead to a better life, ultimately, there are better and more productive ventures a person can undertake that will lead to the successful and happy life that person seeks.

Read for yourself:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aMRZeRiiVKHk&refer=home
MrAchievement.com (Stanley Bronstein)

April 19th, 2008 at 11:41 am
4

Actually, it’s easy to change, ONCE WE MAKE OUR MINDS UP.

The hard part is making our minds up.

I’m off to read your article.

Stanley F. Bronstein
MrAchievement
Attorney, CPA, Author & Professional Motivational Speaker
Tabs

May 5th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
5

I have been working on “change” and wrote a Blog about my findings, it has been quite interesting to find several other people also going through what I am going through. Someone left a comment on one of the posts talking about change being a transformation, I found the word transformation so much more comforting than change. Transforming seems to create an acceptance of what you are while change seems to be more of an assault, a harsher process than transforming.

I know they are just works but maybe that is why change is so hard, transforming seems like something I would be willing to do, while change seems like something I have to work on.

Thanks for the post,

Tabs
Moldova

May 9th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
6

I think that it is hard to change because we have become used with the thing we want to change.
Choose Your Favorite Change Post « Test Links

November 8th, 2008 at 9:24 am
7

[...] is it so hard to change?”–Steve Olson.Com. Steve, one of my favorite bloggers (check out his wife’s book business), wrote this as a [...]
Choose Your Favorite Change Post

November 8th, 2008 at 10:08 am
8

[...] (2) “Why is it so Hard to Change?”–Steve Olson.Com. Steve, one of my favorite bloggers (check out his wife’s book business), wrote this as a [...]