Lean back in your chair and look around.  What do you see? •If you’re reading this on a computer that’s two years old or newer, you might be a change wolf.
•If you’re reading this on a computer that still uses a Windows 95 operating system you’re a change wimp.   

•Check out your cell phone; is it a smart phone that connects to the internet, adjusts the thermostat in your house and closes your garage door when you’re on vacation?  You’re a change wolf.
•If it’s Palm Pre or a Motorola bag phone, you’re definitely a change wimp.
Why wimps and wolves?  Wolves are adaptive, aggressive and intelligent.  They run down the hill with fur blowing in the wind and a big wolfy grin on their face.  Wolves are ready to tackle head-on anything that comes their way.

Wimps can be intelligent and adaptive, but they’re never aggressive.  A wimp stumbles or rolls down a hill gasping for breath all the while trying to figure out how to get out of running down the hill.

The pace of change in our lives is speeding up; it doesn’t matter if you’re a wimp or a wolf – it’s reality.  Whether you like it or not, the pace of change is going to keep increasing.  By the year 2020, a $1,000 computer will have all the processing power of the human brain and virtual reality will be as familiar as the web is today.  Medicine will be revolutionized and life expectancy will increase.  Nanotechnology will create a revolution in manufacturing like we’ve never seen before.

But where is all this change taking us?  What kind of an impact will it have on our lives?  How can we cope with the stress (if you’re a wimp) or the opportunity (If you’re a wolf) that all this change will bring?

First, be flexible.  Don’t resist change but try to learn about it; move with the flow and let go of past assumptions.  Learn to think afresh,

Take time.  Taking time is essential because change pushes us to make more decisions faster and faster.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of rushing our decisions which seldom leads to the best solutions.  Quality decisions require we slow down and maybe even sleep on it.  Create opportunity for insights to emerge.

Know yourself.  Recognize how the creative process occurs and work with it – not against it.  Where and when do you do your best thinking?  While walking the dog?  In the shower?  Driving?  Seldom do we do our best work while sitting at a desk.  Recognize that and do what you do best to help ideas bubble to the surface.

Finally, wimps and wolves both need to be around their own kind, to successfully work through change.  They need the support and companionship of others.  The future is uncharted territory.  We all feel vulnerable and in need of a friendly ear to help us negotiate our way.

Whether you’re a wimp or a wolf, if you are to survive and even thrive in this ever changing world, learn to take back some of the time that accelerating change is taking away.  Reclaim time to think, to rest, to allow ideas to bubble and feelings surface.  Take time to nurture relationships and to develop a mastery of the inner workings of your mind so you can approach change on an even keel.