Leadership Motivational Speaker Sam Silverstein | "Embracing Change" to Achieve Goals

Sam Silverstein, author, entrepreneur and leadership motivational speaker teaches that as human beings, we are consistently faced with managing change.  His article Embracing Change discusses how to initiate and manage change to achieve both personal goals and business success.

Change is the essence of progress and in order to have work toward business success and achieve our personal goals we need to be willing to embrace change. However, change can only be initiated as the result of a primary desire. Lasting change is possible only when the need and primary desire for change is both understood and internalized. People will not initiate change until they are truly ready to change. No one can force you to initiate change. No one can start the process of change for you, except yourself. As humans, we have the ability to change anything and anytime we want. Are you ready to embrace change?

Many people are “too comfortable” to initiate change. They are too comfortable to risk failure. If we do today what we did yesterday, we will get the same results tomorrow that we are getting today, or worse. To achieve any level of meaningful improvement we must initiate change. In business, if you don’t improve, you will move back, because your competition will improve and pass you by.

Let’s say you want to lose weight. There are two variables that you can control, what you eat and how much you exercise. If you eat the same way today as you always have, and you don’t change your exercise habits, your weight won’t change. Now, let’s say you change the food you eat so that you are reducing fat and calories. Even if you don’t change your exercise routine, the change in food intake alone will change your weight situation. Likewise if you don’t change your eating habits but increase your exercise regime, you will burn more fuel and lose weight. Of course, the best thing to do would be to modify your intake and increase your outflow through a good exercise program. To maximize my performance as a runner I needed to lose some weight. I went on a low fat diet. Less than 25% of my calories were from fat. I also increased the frequency and length of my running workouts.  By identifying my primary desire and embracing change, I achieved my personal goal of losing 14 pounds!

It’s common and expected that people sometimes do not embrace change because they try to stay in their comfort zone. This is an area where risk is minimal. Chances are not taken. Failure is not a consideration. This is where we’re “comfortable” and where we know we can “handle” almost any situation that comes up. Greatness does not exist in the comfort zone. The comfort zone is for people who are not looking to achieve their personal goals in any of the seven major areas of life.  It should be recognized that to achieve personal and business success in life,  “trips” out of the comfort zone are not only necessary but also required. Most people are afraid to embrace change. However, it’s only through change that we can improve.

The space inside your comfort zone is finite, it is limited. The area outside the comfort zone is infinite, it has no limits. For example, if a runner can run a mile in seven minutes and always trains in his comfort zone, he will always run a 7-minute mile. Maybe he is happy with his time. If so, that is okay. All of his workouts will be similar, non-taxing, and he won’t test his ability. However, if he wants to improve, he must not only have a primary desire the improvement, but also be willing to leave his comfort zone so he can achieve his personal goal in running (his chosen area of desired success). By adding more difficult workouts to his training regime that push his limits, tax his respiratory system, jack up his heart rate, and increase the lactic acid in his bloodstream, he can improve and grow as a runner. His threshold will be raised and his time lowered. The change in the workouts may be somewhat uncomfortable or even downright difficult, but it is obligatory to improving performance and lowering times, which is the goal he established from his primary desire. The satisfaction of achieving his primary desire will be greater and last longer than the pain (price paid) he endured to achieve his personal goal.  This same concept applies to achieving your professional goals as well.

The difference between the animals and humans is that people have the ability to manage change. We can change our lives. We can change our surroundings. We can change our habits. We can change our future based on changes we make today! The salmon swim upstream every year at the same time. The swallows arrive at Capistrano every year at the same time. Grizzly bears crawl into their caves every year at the same time. But if you’re tired of your job, if you’re tired of your attitude, if you’re tired of your relationships, if you’re tired of your physique: if you want something better, you have the power to embrace change to achieve your personal goals and business success. Human beings have the ability to change and to shape what they become.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you fulfilled all of your primary desires?

• Is the comfort level of what you have now more important than the unknown of working toward your goals?

• Will you be happy later in life if you haven’t put forth your best efforts to achieve your personal goals and business success?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” or you are unsure, then you should initiate change to move forward. Only through change can you break existing patterns and start new ones. By changing how you think and act, you can change your results. Apply this system to both personal goals and professional goals. By making changes in your attitudes and habits you will actually have a paradigm shift. You will be able to incorporate concepts and tasks into your plan that, before, you would have thought impossible.

If you have limited thinking, you will have limited plans. Embracing change involves an expansion in thinking. Managing change means opening your mind, realizing the need to make improvements in your personal habits and behaviors and being able to consider new concepts so that you can have the creative plans necessary to achieve your primary desires. Make a personal commitment to embrace change to achieve your personal goals and professional goals.


Book leadership motivational speaker Sam Silverstein to inspire your business leaders and employees.  He has a solid track record of building million dollar results. The numbers speak for themselves- his companies have sold over 100 million dollars of products and services and he has successfully sold one of his businesses to a Fortune 500 company. Sam works to inspire business leaders and employees who want to achieve their personal and professional goals. He focuses on accountability, authenticity, abundance and embracing change. Sam is the President of the National Speakers Association. For a copy of his free BuildaBetterBiz ezine or more information on Sam Silverstein, please call 1-888-MOTIVATE (888-668-4828) or check out BuildaBetterBiz or SamSilverstein.com.

 Leadership Motivational Speaker