Words have power. Its something I have believed in since I was a little kid.
I am not entirely in love with inspirational sayings though. 95% of the time an inspirational saying falls on deaf ears, or is so tired and overused that it loses its punch. For example, those "rustic" signs you can buy at any craft fair that say "Laugh, Love and Family". Or the typical "Teamwork" posters that you can find in almost every office setting. Tired, old and worthy of an eyeroll.
I know that sounds negative, but I find that they drown out all of the good quotes and inspirational sayings. Nevertheless, I keep a careful ear to the proverbial "good sayings ground" and power on. I guess in the end it makes the good sayings more valuable, like a diamond in the mud.
One that I have come across lately while watching Scrum related videos on Youtube is "Transformation vs. Change". Not really a saying per se but the reasoning behind it packs a punch.
"Change"
This is the thing that a lot of us try to do. Especially right after New Years.
You can vow to change your diet, exercise regiment, study habits... whatever you are looking to improve. I can't think of a single person that I have met that is 100% happy with themselves and wouldn't change a thing. Well, except for my buddy Alex, he intentionally set the bar low for himself years ago and is quite happy there (true story, a weird part of me envies him sometimes). But even he tries to change for the better.
What is change exactly? I believe in this context (when referring to self) it means you look at yourself and decide to work or improve on certain aspects. You take the hunk of clay (that is you) and you reshape it into something better. Molding, stretching and working at it until you get something better than before.
What is change exactly? I believe in this context (when referring to self) it means you look at yourself and decide to work or improve on certain aspects. You take the hunk of clay (that is you) and you reshape it into something better. Molding, stretching and working at it until you get something better than before.
Change is something we all strive for, but is really the right way to go about it?
"Transformation"
If you really want to take on a big project, like improving yourself or doing something that is life changing then you can't just merely change, you need to Transform (with a capital T). A butterfly is not going to change back to a caterpillar anytime soon. Once it has moved onto "winged mode" its better and much more deadly (causing hurricanes and such). This is the thinking that really struck a chord with me.
The man that I was when I entered college at the age of 40 was a different person than I am today. Happily married, successful in a lot of aspects of my life but I wanted to better myself and change careers. Which meant that the man who came out the other end of that collegiate journey had to be willing to transform himself into something new.
Change is just slapping something on the person who is already there, Its easy to change your diet, but if your old diet habits are hiding underneath the surface you can easily find yourself slipping back into them. Transformation is a bit more, its more dedicated, more permanent, more solid. That is what I aspire for with my journey to Scrum Master. I aim to Transform into a full blown Scrum Master in every sense of the word, and if a team is looking to adopt Agile in their lives they will have to Transform as well.
In the end you can apply this thinking to pretty much any aspect in your life if you wish. But on my journey to Scrum Master I am going to keep this saying "Change vs. Transformation" in my back pocket and use it as a guidepost. And I hope you will give it some though too.
And who knows? Maybe I need a cheesy rustic "Transformation vs. Change" sign to hang next to my Lisa Frank calendar.
