“Progress is impossible without change.”
~ George Bernard Shaw

Last week my hubby shared this hilarious video with me about sayings that can drive people crazy. The skit is funny in part because we all use expressions from time to time that do nothing but bring us comfort.

Coincidently, a few days later a cousin messaged to ask me to write about several other seemingly vapid sayings that were pet peeves for her. In this post, I’ll address one of them, which is “That’s how we’ve always done it.”

I join my cousin in her frustration at being on the receiving end of that line. Because it’s such an empty excuse, it can be frustrating when offered to customers as an explanation for an unhelpful business practice. Or when bosses use it in a planning discussion at work, shutting down innovation.

The first question that comes to mind, whenever we hear it, is, “Why is that?”

My parents had a very strong work ethic, and we were taught to “work smarter, not harder.” That meant keeping an eye out for inefficiencies and coming up with shortcuts, an important practice in a household of ten. No matter the size of the task, we were encouraged to look for a better, faster way. We carried that mindset with us out into the world, and into our jobs. We were supported in our efforts to challenge the way things were being done and to make suggestions for improvements.

Although I had taken a typing class in high school, when I started my first professional job at a computer company my brother owned, I was still more comfortable taking notes on paper. Seeing an inefficiency, my brother pressed me to start typing everything at work. At first I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to capture my thoughts with the same speed and ease since I was slow at keyboarding. He was a fast typist and I could see the advantages it offered, so I made the change, and got the hang of in short order. Ironically, now writing by hand actually feels awkward. Learning typing and other computer skills opened the door to me becoming a technical writer, and later, a freelance writer.

Change is hard.

New methods take more effort at first because they feel unfamiliar.

And yet they can be exciting, too. They can open us up to new opportunities—ones we may never have envisioned.

That being the case, why do we hold onto old ways of doing things? And tell others that that’s how we’ve always done it, as if that’s a real explanation. All of us are guilty of it at times, much as it may frustrate others.

Think of all the things you do the same way, month after month, year after year. Doing things the way we’ve always done them can be expedient in one sense since we don’t have to think about alternate methods. Often we do things a certain way because that’s how we were taught. Or perhaps we improvised long ago when we didn’t have the money or time to do it differently. Sometimes we can only figure out one way, and we just stick with that.

Just as it can be comforting to have stock phrases we use, there’s a comfort that comes with having routines.

And yet, holding too closely to them can stifle new ideas.

From time to time it may be good to stop and reevaluate how we are living. To become curious about our habits and practices. To question where they came from and whether they are still serving us. To ask ourselves if there is a different way.

Change is actually good for us, explains Medet Ali in this article.

In addition to it helping us to develop new skills, it can help us to be more flexible and more confident.

I remember how reluctant I was to switch from a PC to a MacBook Air years ago. My nephew who was assisting me with the transition told me that once I saw all the features it offered, I’d never go back. He was so right.

Changes (or as David Bowie sings it, ch-ch-ch-ch-changes) can propel us forward. When you make adaptations in one area of your life, you may feel more motivated to look for other areas that need to be refreshed.

As we anticipate the end of the summer, this might be a good time of year to examine some of our habits to see if there’s a better way to do things than the way we’ve always done them.

Affectionately,

Elaine