“We become what we THINK about.”
- Earl Nightingale (The Strangest Secret)

“Through his THOUGHTS, man holds the key to every situation.”
- James Allen (As A Man Thinketh)

“All the resources we need are in the MIND.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

“We have 60,000 THOUGHTS a day.
However, 95% are the same ones we had yesterday.”
- Deepak Chopra

“The world we have created is a product of our THINKING.”
- Albert Einstein

“There is nothing either good or bad except that THINKING makes it so.”
- Shakespeare

“As one THINKETH in his heart, so is he.”
- The Prophet David

“I THINK… therefore I am.”
- René Descartes

“First with the HEAD… then with the HEART.”
- Hoppe to Peekay (The Power of One)

“Well, I come down in the morning and I take up a pencil and
I try to THINK.”
- Hans Bethe (Physicist)

“Great men are those who see that THOUGHTS rule the world.”
- Emerson

“Men simply don’t THINK.”
- Albert Schweitzer

“THINKING is hard work. It’s why so few people do it.”
- Henry Ford

This play on words comes from my good friend Dick Celeste, President of Colorado College. Former Rhodes Scholar. Former Governor of Ohio. Former Ambassador to India. And currently, terrific father and grandfather. Dick gets this whole thing around CHANGE.

In this generation’s lexicon, ‘RULE’ is a good thing. So, yes, CHANGE does ‘RULE’.

At the same time, in order to really CHANGE something (yourself, your organization, the world), you also have to CHANGE (THE) RULES.

Paul Arden, in his wonderful little book It’s Now How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, speaks for a multitude of entrepreneurs and change agents when he says,

“You can’t solve the problem if you’re playing by the RULES.”

I believe it’s much stronger than that.

THERE ARE NO RULES!

Obviously, without violating any moral or ethical principles, when it comes to trying to solve important social problems, health problems, education problems, financial problems… THERE ARE NO RULES.

1. “BE the CHANGE you want to see in the world.”
   

   —Gandhi

   Gandhi’s eponymous quote is on everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs to bumper stickers. The power of this quote is around the word ‘BE’… which translates to ‘DO’.

   CHANGE is up to us. Some of you reading this can actually CHANGE THE WORLD, especially leaders of CHANGE ORGANIZATIONS. All of us have the ability to CHANGE OUR world, our health, our income, our relationships, our lives.

2. “EVERY organization needs to ABANDON almost EVERYTHING that it does.”
   

   —Peter Drucker

   The man has written what seems like hundreds of books and thousands of articles. This is surely one of my favorite quotes. He says EVERY. He didn’t even use the word CHANGE. He said ‘ABANDON’. He also didn’t talk about kaizen or tweak. He said (almost) EVERYTHING.

   Again, I would bring you back to the idea of breaking some RULES, especially if those rules are merely constraints on thinking differently.

3. “Every organization is PERFECTLY DESIGNED to get the RESULTS they are getting.”
   

   —Tim Kight

   Tim Kight is a friend and truly brilliant thinker. His quote is so obvious, yet always generates an AHA! moment.

   If we’re not happy with current results or outcomes or the situation… we need to CHANGE the DESIGN of what created the result.

One of the key elements of their national model is a program called ‘CHALLENGE TO CHANGE‘ … where they work with those in need to help CHANGE the way they think, feel and act.

Here’s my 2007 CHALLENGE TO CHANGE.

Every one of us is looking to make some kind of ‘CHANGE’ in their own personal life, our organizations, our relationships … or in the World.

This is the year.

To get you started, I would remind you of one of my absolute favorite quotes from one of my favorite people, Tim Kight:

“We are perfectly designed to get the results we are getting.”

Tim not only uses that in the ORGANIZATIONAL work that he does, but in his PERSONAL BEST seminars.

What does this really mean? Exactly what it says.
If you want different results, you need a different ‘design’.

Change or Die.

Alan Deutschman just expanded his provocative and challenging Fast Company cover story (May 2005) into a full-length book: Change or Die. I just finished it, and would strongly recommend this as a terrific place to get started on your 2007 CHALLENGE TO CHANGE.

Here’s a quick summary:

• When given the real choice of LIFE or DEATH, the scientifically studied odds are 9 to 1 … AGAINST change!
• Deutschman, on the other hand, says “People can change the deep-rooted patterns of how they think, feel and act.”
• However, we need to replace the three misconceptions about change. (‘FACTS’, ‘FEAR’ and ‘FORCE’) with what he calls the Three Keys to Change: RELATE … REPEAT … REFRAME (which create new hope, new skills and new thinking).

Nick and I are going to be writing about this concept of CHALLENGE TO CHANGE over the next few weeks. We don’t want this to be the standard’ NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION’, which merely fills up every athletic club in America from January 1st until January 11th; and then they’re back to normal.

Bertram Russell, the philosopher and political pundit, said:

“CHANGE is one thing. PROGRESS is another.”

Don’t just CHANGE TO CHANGE. We all want to make PROGRESS in our personal lives, our relationships, our organization and our teams.

Watch for more …

Earl Nightingale is literally the father of PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. THE STRANGEST SECRET was literally the seed from which this personal development industry grew.

Written in 1956, when Earl was 35 years old, he recorded this short message for a small group of salesmen one Saturday morning. The message had such a positive impact that everyone wanted copies to share with their friends and family. Earl Nightingale arranged with Columbia Records to duplicate this record and ultimately received a Gold Record for sale of a million copies. (This is in the 1950′s!)

I started to summarize this book but that’s very unfair. Just order your copy right now. It’s 19 small pages (the book) and takes only 30 minutes to listen to (the audio).

To whet your appetite:

“Men simply don’t think.”

“We become what we think about.”

“Success equals the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

“Instead of competing, all we have to do is create.”

“Impact = Income!” (I swear it’s in there!) He calls it the Law of Mutual Exchange.