Adapt to Change or Perish
By: Gary Ryan Blair
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Startup, Personal Development, Self Improvement, Leadership

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” — H. G. Wells

Charles Darwin is often quoted — and often misquoted. The most frequent transgression being…only the strongest survive.

The problem with that quote is that Darwin never said it…but what did say provides us with the perfect segue into today’s message…

“It is not the most intellectual or the strongest species that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to or adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” — Charles Darwin

Adapting to change is difficult, but not adapting is fatal as history is littered with the bodies of very strong people and companies who were brought to their knees, and put in their grave due to their inability or unwillingness to adapt or adjust to the changing environment in which they found themselves in.

In almost every case, the sources of failure are prosaic and avoidable — a failure to implement technologies that have already been developed…an arrogant disregard for changing customer demands…a complacent attitude towards new competitors…and an overall unwillingness to change ones behavior.

Throw in fear, the gravitational pull of resistance, and a love affair with the comfort zone… and you’ve got yourself the perfect storm.

Unable to defend themselves against competitors armed with new products, technologies, or strategies, they watch their sales and profits erode, their best people leave, their stock valuations tumble, and their quality of life deteriorate.

They’re caught like the proverbial deer in the headlights, and they provide proof that Darwin’s theory was on the money.

Some ultimately manage to recover — usually after eating some a good helping of humble pie, and taking some pretty hefty lumps to the head — but many don’t.

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.

Change descends upon each one of us equally; the difference is that some of us realize it faster than others and adapt accordingly.

But, it’s our awareness to the slightest changes in our environment and the world around us that helps us to best manage the change process.

To successfully manage the change process, it’s important for us to get clear on our thinking . . . to accept the reality of what lies ahead.

The world is changing rapidly, and the stakes are higher than ever before.

Nothing is sacred…all rules are being rewritten.

No country or currency, no industry or profession…and certainly no company or individual is safe.

We’re all vulnerable, we’re all in the cross hairs…and no one has your back.

Learn how to crush any goal in record time

Progress keeps picking up speed…the complexity of our world keeps on increasing…and the rate of change keeps on accelerating.

Hyper-competitiveness, relentless and ongoing challenges, new disruptive technologies, blockchain, artificial intelligence, mass consolidation and the rapid implementation of robots is occurring at warp speed…and it’s only going to accelerate.

Let’s just accept the fact that our careers will be lived out in a state of constant transition.

We should therefore prepare for a work environment that is fluid, fuzzy, and fast. We will constantly be confronted by the “new,” and often by the unexpected. We’ll forever be surrounded by uncertainty and instability.

Business and life will become more demanding. Fierce and highly responsive competition means we all must must place a premium on self-reliance, relentless innovation, upgrading our execution skills…and delivering constantly improving results.

Yet, while technology is multiplying our capabilities and demanding that we step up our game…too many of us continue operate with antiquated beliefs, out-dated tactics and inferior execution skills.

Rather than adapt to the realities of change and adjust our mindset to the necessity of 100 day high-performance sprints…most organizations and individuals continue to work within the context of annual goals and plans; a 365 day / 12-month execution cycle.

As creator of the 100 Day Challenge and someone who repeatedly, consistently, and quite routinely works with people and organizations who use high-performance sprints to accelerate from standing starts to giant accomplishments, driving exponential results quickly is my reality.

I’ve come to experience first-hand how 100 day performance sprints and challenges avoid the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking.

While one, three and five year goals are helpful as they provide you with a vision of the future…they lack immediacy, gravity and urgency…the key things you and I need to compete in today’s competitive environment.

100 day high-performance sprints on the other-hand solve that problem by providing you with the focus, seriousness, and get it done now attitude you need to adapt and adjust to rapid market changes.

100 day high-performance sprints are powerful and empowering as they create breakthroughs through the intentional use of time compression.

How? When you set goals within the context of a 100 day high-performance sprint…you no longer have the luxury of being complacent, of putting off decisions or not taking action.

By compressing deadlines, enforcing accountability and taking massive action each day, you accelerate your goals and the speed by which you close any gaps in execution.

In addition, a well-executed 100 day sprint embodies…

Flawless execution.

Supreme attention to detail.

Being more efficient in less time.

Being focused and immersed in the moment.

Starting fast and finishing every day and task strong.

Summoning an intensity to fight through the tough days.

Being full of energy, life, and efficiency while at ease.

Sustained quality, speed and efficiency from beginning to end.

A 100 day high-performance sprint is a long enough period of time to make profound progress…but the finish line is near enough so that you don’t put things off.

The thing to remember is that any task, goal or project takes as much time as you allow for it to take, and by playing a strong, relentless offense in the form of a 100 day sprint…it won’t take much time for you to start fast tracking your goals and transforming your life.

Long-term annualized goals, the marathon approach to life and goal achievement unintentionally creates a barrier to high performance.

Inherently, you assume an unspoken and deeply held belief that there’s plenty of time on the clock to make things happen.

You lack a sense of real urgency and forget that every week is important, every day is game day, every moment and opportunity counts.

Think about the implications of a 100 Day Sprint…your level of excitement, energy and focus is at peak levels. Execution is happening on a daily, moment-by-moment basis…you’re fast tracking every goal you set in record time…and you’re living the life of your dreams.

100 days is the perfect unit of time to make headway on your big picture goals and to give them the focus they need.

How much procrastination can you withstand, and how many bad weeks can you experience in a 100 day high-performance sprint? Zip. Zero. Nada.

The 100 day high-performance sprint narrows the focus to the critical factors that drive rapid results…and in the end, only results matter.

I created the 100 Day Challenge to show you how to drive results that matter!

Gary Ryan Blair is creator of the 100 Day Challenge…a radical approach to goal achievement that shows people how to achieve 10X size goals by applying the methods and best practices of growth hacking. Get all the details here.

Join a powerful community of 600,000+ aspiring people and get the training, support and environment you need to unleash your greatness.

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