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Welcome to the Upside Podcast, where we help you get unstuck in life and business by elevating your thinking and provoking meaningful change from the inside out. I'm your host, Teresa Flood. Thank you for joining me. And my question to kick us off today is this. Are you looking for things to change in 2026? Well, if you are someone who created any kind of goals or resolutions or intentions for the year, you have to say that, yes, you want something to change in 2026. And here's the only way for things to get better next year or tomorrow is for things to change today. And the only guarantee for a better tomorrow is for things to change now. So you cannot become who you need to become next year by remaining the same. And if you missed episode one of this year, we talked about the five identities of who we must become to accomplish all of the things that we want to accomplish this year. And one of those identities was becoming a person who loves change. And I encourage you, if you didn't listen to it, go back, listen to the full episode. It talks. We talk about the. The idea that we have to become somebody different to accomplish the things that we want to become. Um, but change is such a huge piece of that, because the very essence of growth is change. You cannot grow without changing. And yet so often we're adverse to change in our lives. I know a lot of us have said over and over, I'm not a changed person. I dislike change. I don't like to change. And we resist the very things that move us forward. Well, why is this? Because change, at its core, is uncomfortable. Even the best changes in our lives require us to let something go. So if you are married, you understand this. Marriage is a wonderful change. You anticipate the day you get so excited when you get engaged. You anticipate the day that you get married. And then once that happens, everything changes. Changes. And while most of it is wonderful, you still have to let go of something. You have to let go of your independence. You have to let go of making decisions on your own. You have to let go baby of his and hers money, right? All of the different things that you have to let go when you had your first child. And actually, I have a little shout out. I've got Jillian and Jet sitting in the studio today while I record this. Um, but when you have a baby, a first baby or a second baby, it's the most wonderful gift in the world. And yet everything changes. And you have to let go of. Of sleep, you have to let go of Being on your own schedule of doing things on your own time, learning something new. Same thing. Anytime you learn something new, it requires change and it requires us to let go of maybe not being so good at something. It requires us being new. Being clumsy, being awkward, being uncomfortable. You have to slow down to master it. Let's talk about changing our mindset. If we're going to change our mindset, which, which we know is the catalyst for changing our actions, our outcomes and our behav, we have to let go of something there too. And that's our ego. Because if you think about the idea of changing your mindset, think about it this way. To change your mind means saying, hey, I didn't know everything, I was maybe wrong, I thought something differently before and I have to change my mind or change my mindset to be able to move forward. So change is uncomfortable and yet it is necessary. It's almost like when you step into change, when you're growing personally and professionally growing in your leadership, it's almost like you're stepping into clothes that don't quite fit. Maybe you've gone on a weight loss journey and you've bought clothes that are maybe a little bit, or your clothes start to become too big for you, you have to step into a new, a new outfit and it's uncomfortable a little bit before they really fit well. So if you're listening to this podcast, one thing I know about you is you're somebody who wants to invest in your growth, you want to invest in your leadership, you want to become somebody different this year to accomplish your goals. Otherwise you wouldn't be listening to. Here's the learner's trap Though if you are a growth minded, learning based person, here is the trap that all of us face and that is we face the trap of learning for knowing sake and not learning for doing sake. Meaning how many books are we going to read, how many podcasts are we going to listen to? How many seminars or classes are we going to attend before we get into action? And we talk on this podcast all the time. The first episode of this year went back to about how all success happens inside to outside. But don't be mistaken, inside to outside change doesn't mean that we're not taking action. It's not just it's ethereal idea. We still have to get into action. It just means that those, those changes happen because of how we think, because how, how we operate. So internal change is still active and not passive. One of the traits of really successful people, as I, as I read Books and listen to podcasts and watch panels and, and, and observe success. Great leaders, great producers, successful people. One of the traits that I believe they have in common is that they operate quickly in regards to change. They adapt to change very quickly. They don't sit on the sidelines and wait. They don't ponder, they don't have to hear something a million times before they take action. They learn, they listen, they learn and then they move forward. So speed in business is not just about efficiency. Now efficiency is incredibly important. That's a whole nother episode talk about systems and efficiency and scalability. But speed in business is also about speed of implementation. Meaning how quickly do we learn and then implement? How quickly do we adjust our behavior when we understand that something is off? How many times do we have to hear something before we move and take action? How willing are we to change our mind and and to change it quickly? How fast will we execute before we understand something completely or before we have it perfect? And remember, one of the identities if you go back to episode one of this year is that we're going to quit being people that have to be perfect. Why? Because if we're going to adapt quickly to change, if we're going to not just be learners for for knowing sake, we're going to be learners for doing sake, for actually changing and making things happen, then we're going to have to get comfortable with being not perfect. We waste a lot of time and energy. I want you to really think about this. We waste a lot of time on and energy by resisting change we need instead of embracing it. We spend a lot of time and energy. And remember, you only have so much energy. Why are we tired and exhausted all the time? Sometimes it's because we spend that energy and that time focusing on things that don't that are out of our control, focusing on things that aren't productive for us. And when we resist change that we know we need, when we go and we learn something, we have an aha. Something triggers. We say we need to make that adjustment in how we think and how we act and how we're showing up in the behaviors and we negotiate with ourselves, overing it, over it, over and over. We're expending energy that is wasted. So if you are someone like me who wants more energy in 2026, then increase the speed in which you adapt and change. Implement faster, learn and then do implement faster. So here are some things I want to give you to help you navigate change. Okay. Number there's five things that will help you as you're navigating change this coming year, number one is I want you to change before you have to. So often we wait for big life moments that require us to change. So a great example of this would be a medical diagnosis. We know for a long time that we need to get our weight under control, we need to start exercising, we need to build muscle. And we don't make those changes until we have a health scare or until we have a really hard conversation with the doctor. Or maybe we know that we meet, need to make some pivots in our business and we don't make that change until the competition comes in and does it. So when we make change before we have to make change, that is going to help us embrace it. Because I don't know about you, but I don't really like being told what to do. I don't like doing things because I feel like I have to, because I feel like it's forced on me. So when you can start viewing change as a factor that you control as opposed to something that is being done to you, it's going to help you embrace that and move forward. So, number one, change before you have to. Number two, hold on to the things that are unchanging. Hold on to the things that are unchanging. We had a new pastor step in at our church over this last year and the very first message that he preached when he started with us was the things that will never change. Many things in life change, but here are the things that won't change. And he talked about, about the things in the Bible, in the Word and in our church that are going to be the unchanging things. And I think that's such a. It was a really great leadership demonstration of when everything feels like it's moving and changing around us. There are things that are unchanging and immovable. And I think that helps us to navigate change when we can remember what the unchanging things are. Number three, start mentally connecting change with growth. Instead of thinking of change as a scary thing, start in your mind. Every time you think of change, think of it as growth. It doesn't mean that all change is growth and all growth is change, right? Because you cannot grow without change. And so mentally start connecting those words so that the idea of it starts to soften. You start to see the end picture, not the messy middle. Number four, remember that change is uncomfortable because it's new, not because it's bad or because you're not good at is always just going to be uncomfortable because it's new. It doesn't necessarily mean it's not good and it doesn't necessarily mean you're not going to become great at it. It is just new and so it's uncomfortable. And then number four, remember that all change eventually settles into a new normal. Now this is also a catch 22 because then when we hit that new normal, we have to decide again what needs to change. Growth. But remember, all change eventually becomes a new normal. So if you have change that's happening in your life right now, that's maybe change that was forced on you that you didn't choose. Remember, you will settle into a new normal. When you step into things this year and say, I'm going to make some big leaps. I'm going to change my mindset. I'm going to step into some different activities that feel uncomfortable, like clothes that don't fit. You will fall into a new normal. Take a deep breath. It will be okay. I promise you. It'll fall into a new normal. So remember the five things change before you have to hold onto the things that are unchanging. Mentally connect change with growth. Number four, remember that change is uncomfortable because it's new, not because it's bad or you're not good at it. And number four, remember that change eventually settles into a new normal. I'm so honored to go on this journey with you. Be sure you've subscribed@teresaflood.com and I will send you a teaching guide on Thursday that's downloadable that you can use for your own self reflection and growth. Or you can turn around and teach it to a team or a group that you're leading. That's a free resource that'll be available to you when you subscribe@teresaflood.com so excited to go on this journey with you. Thank you for tuning in. And as always, remember when you invest in your growth every single day, it will yield you great returns. See you on the upside.