Flexibility is really just a thinking skill that focuses on the ability to adapt to new situations, improvise and shift strategies to meet different types of challenges.  When you think about it flexibility is really an easy concept to explain, you need to be open to change and new information and then you simply adapt your behavior and decisions based on the new information and changing conditions and unexpected obstacles.  Now, the real question comes into play, why is it so easy to define flexibility and yet so difficult to put into practice?  Being flexible in the face of change can be very difficult.

We have often put much time, thought and planning into our decisions and we are comfortable and like the plans we have already made and we have no desire to change our plans.  We often get committed to our goals and plans and we become more focused on our plans than the desired results.  When we become so committed to our plan we often lose sight of all of the other possibilities, options and answers to our challenges.   We must remember to consider others ideas and feelings and don’t insist on always having your own way.  Flexibility gives you creative new ways to get things done.  Flexibility can help you to keep getting better.   The real challenge is to realize that change is part of life and we can either be flexible and look for the positive or inflexible and stick with our plan and often we make the people around us miserable and miss the opportunity that might have presented itself if we had chosen to be flexible.

We can learn to accommodate and accept change by anticipating change because we know it is coming, adjust to change when it is needed.  Change will almost always have some benefit so look for the positives and always do what is right.  Everyone must be flexible to get along in the world and sometimes you can be flexible and achieve the same goal you set out to do but just in a different way, but you still have the same end result.

Scott Williams reminds us, we can all expect more change in our personal and work life.  To survive and thrive we still need to be flexible.  The best way to fight off rigidity is by continually stretching yourself by taking on new challenges.  He also recommends learning how to overcome irrational fears of change, boosting your self-confidence, becoming an active participant in the change process, set new goals and always anticipate change.

Our personal and professional life will be full of ups and downs with many unexpected changes but the real challenge is to realize that change is part of life and we can either be flexible and bend or we can break.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
― Albert Einstein

“There’s no such thing as a mistake, really. It’s just an opportunity to do something else.”
― Ralph Steadman

“Yielding flexibility is a virtue of an ever-expanding heart.”
― Molly Friedenfeld

“A guarantee in this life: Change! Flexibility is better than predictability!”
― Evinda Lepins