Changing Often isn't Enough

I hope, by now, you’ve recognized Churchill’s distinct style. Not only is he a uniquely witty and quotable speaker, but he also implements a similar structure throughout his most pithy sayings. The vast majority are two clauses: the first, a compelling statement in and of itself, the second, a resounding response to the call of the first claim. This week’s quote is no exception to that rule.

The first clause this time is “To improve is to change”. Fairly straightforward if you ask me; when humankind stagnates, we fall short. In order to get better, we need to mix things up. People have a tendency to get into ruts, and Churchill points out that in order to ever get better, to ever reach some higher plateau, we must challenge ourselves and evolve.

Now the concluding clause is less of a poignant corollary and more of an impactful generalization: “To be perfect is to change often”. Changing merely yields improvement; if you are one of the many perfectionists out there (there a surprising number of closet perfectionists in this world, but I digress), seek out change. Seek it out frequently, and go further than improvement to perfection.

Change is hard for people. Especially for me, change is one of the hardest things there is to handle and to learn to cope with. It is a natural, inherent predilection of people to seek consistency. Our brains are really just super fancy pattern recognition machines. When the body senses a pattern, it is put to ease. Our biological tendency is to seek out these patterns, and without them, life can be jarring.

Thus, a break in the pattern that the mind has some accustomed to experiencing can be a very difficult situation to cope with. However, when it comes down to success, motivation, and self-betterment, we must change, and not only change, but change often.

Reading this quote on one of the many compilations of Churchill’s quotes that I foraged through, I gave it no second thought. From a high level, my thought process was similar to “That’s dumb. I hate change. What’s the next quote?”. As someone who has never done well coping with change, my initial reaction was to discount the quote immediately. I’m sure many of your reactions are the same.

Don’t, however, let Churchill’s call for change discourage you. Think back to the times when you’ve truly thrived and accomplished the most. For me, it’s when I changed. Without that change, I’d merely have been surviving, I wouldn’t have been living. It takes that moxie and bravado to really get somewhere. To have the guts to change is hard.

Specifically in my life, I’ve undergone changes that made my life significantly harder, but vastly improved myself. Developing clubs, shaping my high school curriculum to my own needs, and involving myself extra-curricularly here at Penn State have all been challenging changes that are crucial to my improvement. Once I got in a slight rut, I knew I needed to step outside of it and did so in pledging a business fraternity, what seems like it could be a wildly helpful (albeit time-sapping) endeavor. Listen to Churchill. Change will help you improve yourself. In order to really strive for perfection, keep changing.