For those Trekkies out there, this may bring back memories of the Borg in their self-repairing Cube ships when they appeared in the late 80’s in the Star Trek TV series. To summarise the premise, they were a cybernetic alien force that had a type of Hive mind and worked as a collective. Assimilating other species and technology into their fold, by learning from weaknesses, they overcame resistance. Hence the phrase, “Resistance is futile”! They were pretty relentless and successful in living up to this statement, to be honest.
What might we learn from the Borg to understand ourselves better? Take a moment to reflect. Where do you notice difficulties in your life? What habits are working against your well-being? Which problems do you notice keep recurring? What mistakes do you seem to keep repeating over and over? Which things do you keep berating yourself for? Below are some guidelines to how you can notice and recognise resistance to change.
- Use resistance as a signpost. When I look at my life and my business I have begun to notice things that I keep resisting. An idea comes to mind, that I have an important task to do, although I distract myself with something I give priority to instead. Priority is important. Nevertheless, when an idea keeps reappearing and I keep putting it on the long finger, this is a good example of an area that needs to be explored further and a decision to be made on it.
- Ask yourself why? This one can be just as hard. Let alone putting things to one side. Part of ourselves may feel like it is not ready to answer “Why?” and therefore we will find another way of distracting ourselves from looking at the issue. As soon as you decide to look at the question, things will begin to become a little clearer. Be compassionate with yourself at the same time determined to understand more.
- Be flexible. I personally like the term, ‘gentle and firm’. This will allow you to see the underlining reason and how you can overcome it. When you attack, you will notice defences kicking in. Be open to challenges that may arise. Try to be adaptable to the change you are aiming for.
- Create goals that deal with them. Be realistic and keep them within reach. Change happens even in the smallest increments. Once you are moving forward, you are moving in the right direction. And remember you can always ask for help.
- Ask a friend for help. Now and again, we need a push or reminder of what goals we have set. We can be very clever at finding reasons to resist change, although when there is guidance, it can be just what we need to stay on track.
- Monitor your progress. It can be easy to give up when we notice we haven’t achieved our goal. This is another trick of the mind to resist. Find a way of monitoring even small changes that you have achieved and congratulate yourself for them. Every step is a step in the right direction.
- Try and try and try again. Persist. This is core to it all. Keep at it. Remind yourself of how different things will be when you overcome this resistance. Stick with it. Every time you see failures, use it as stepping stones to move forward and upward.
Perhaps the Borg did have a lesson for us all. We all have unuseful programs running inside our Heads, Bodies, Hearts and Spirits, that prevent us from being the person we want to be. Our task is to reprogram those parts with new sounds or visions and to persist until they are assimilated into our collective being. Next time you notice yourself resisting. See it as an opportunity to learn something about yourself and use it as a tool to build on. There are no weaknesses, only unrealised potential. Resistance is futile when backed with Persistence.
Most importantly, you need to believe in where you are going! Although, that’s another post. Now, back to my accounts, something I love to resist 🙂
