Let’s talk shift for a moment, shall we?
Most of us know what it feels like when something needs to change. We feel it in our relationships. We feel it in our careers or our organizations. We feel it when life starts asking questions we’re not quite ready to answer.
And yet, knowing something needs to shift and actually making shift happen are two very different things.
For a long time, I thought that meant I was stuck.
I hear that word all the time in my work.
“I’m stuck.”
“I know we need to do something, but I’m not sure what…”
“I’ve been thinking about it for years.”
“I just can’t seem to move.”
And if I’m honest, I’ve said those same things myself. I’m currently finishing a book that I was “stuck” on for years, which got me thinking.
I spend most of my life helping leaders, teams, and organizations navigate change. Sometimes that work produces amazing transformational results that I’m incredibly proud of. If you’ve been rocking with me for a while, you’ve probably been part of one of those stories.
But sometimes the shift doesn’t go so well.
Sometimes a change initiative loses momentum.
Sometimes everyone agrees something needs to happen, but somehow nothing happens. And sometimes things unravel altogether, ending up looking worse than they did when we started.
There’s a statistic in the change management world that says somewhere between 40 and 80 percent of change initiatives fail. Traditionally, we’ve blamed that on not paying enough attention to the people side of change.
I still think that’s true.
But lately I’ve been learning something else about readiness for change.
Knowing is not enough.
If it were, we’d all exercise more, save more money, leave unhealthy situations sooner, have better boundaries, and finally write the book.
Trust me. I know.
As I’ve been refining The SHIFT Method, I’ve realized that awareness is much more complicated than I once thought. Most people think awareness begins when we recognize there’s a problem.
Something’s off.
Something isn’t working.
Something needs attention.
But recognizing a problem and accepting it are two very different things.
I’ve come to believe awareness has two parts. First, we acknowledge the truth, we admit there is an issue; then we have to accept the issue for what it really is.
And there can be years between those two moments.
I knew my marriage was struggling long before I left.
I knew it.
I talked about it.
I prayed about it.
I went to counseling about it.
I explored ways to fix it.
But acceptance? That’s different.
Acceptance meant allowing myself to fully see what was true, not what I hoped would be true. And once you truly accept something, as it is, not as you desire it to be, eventually you’ll need to decide what you’re going to do about it.
That’s where many of us stay longer than we realize.
Not because we don’t know.
Because we do.
We’re stuck somewhere between knowing and doing. Somewhere between acknowledgment and acceptance. Somewhere between seeing the truth and being willing to respond to it.
And that is a very different problem than being stuck.
In fact, I’m beginning to think one of the most powerful questions we can ask ourselves isn’t:
“Why am I stuck?”
It’s:
“Where am I stuck?”
Am I still acknowledging?
Am I resisting acceptance?
Am I postponing action because the truth feels too disruptive?
Am I gathering more information when what I really need is commitment?
Am I hoping for certainty when what I actually need is courage?
Because here’s what I’m learning. Awareness is not the finish line. It’s the beginning. The goal isn’t to rush yourself. The goal is to tell yourself the truth and believe it.
Because every meaningful shift begins there.
And every shift creates the possibility for growth.
