Do you recall the classic statement, “the only constant is change”? It is an ever-present phenomenon, and by comprehension at the level of man’s intelligence, a tricky one, because change is in constant clash with timeless principles, which by evidence of established patterns, do not change.

The winner is the one who knows how to maintain and manage the balance between change and timed, principle-based progress on a daily basis, which all boils down to the little decision-making that counts. One thing is for sure: the “final decision” is the only one that is expressed in action, which will translate into results. How you arrive to that decision ultimate hinges on the summation of your reaction to the present moment (a moment of change?) and your personal values (are they timeless?).

Interestingly, if you should look back at how you made your ‘final’ decisions in the past, you may find a pattern and a set of reasons for why you made your decisions in a certain way. Now, this is a part where you as a reader would be wondering what point I am driving at.

It’s all in the habits.

Habit is the encompassing definition of the translation from “how you think” to “what you do”. It is incredible that general statistics point to a real fact that 80% of businesses do not last over 2 years, but at a personal level, people don’t seem to realize larger implications and consequences in the scheme of things even as they drudge through the motions of daily work.

Some things never change, particularly knowledge at grassroots level. An effective habit grounded well is knowledge applied from grassroots level onwards. In business, how many people know how to increase leads, build a database, convert them into customers, develop relationships with them, treat them right, follow-up and mold them into repeat customers? But this is the foundation for future profits, no matter how you work your business and how often you change your methodologies or habits.

It is not easy for people to bear principles in mind while being adaptable to changing situations, but no matter how vague the truth is, it is that “the root of all things keeps them in a firm position”. Therefore one can be down but never out. Setbacks are temporary only when they don’t displace you completely. Yes, you can solve them with a tweak and a change.

On the other hand, the need for a change can make one uncomfortable depending on its scale. Ultimately, think through this: if your business is not doing as well as it should for quite some time, what decisions have you made and actions implemented to elevate it from your current situation, so that it won’t be the same or even fall towards failing tomorrow, next week and next month? Strange but true, as long as bad times continue, today is the best time for you to reflect, take stock of your business and re-strategize for the better. If you have not done so, do not procrastinate. If you feel stuck in a quagmire, I would like you to be fully aware that your habits of yesterday produced the results and outcome of today, and whatever you do today, you will be tomorrow. This is an irrevocable and natural law!

If you do not change, change will conquer you! Being smart at conquering change is all about being creative and inventive at doing things in a different way, not doing completely different things, but the primary purpose is the same: to survive! No business can ultimately be a success if it is unable to survive. Every business needs to know what changes are occurring within its environment and will be in the future to effect a corresponding change within the company. When right and wrong decisions are separated by a fine line, they must be made without regrets after careful evaluations of the best actions that will steer the enterprise in the preferred course. Awareness and experience through the rough times can only help to sharpen your survival instincts for better days in the future regardless of any unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances. If there’s anything good that came out of setbacks, it is that you have grown to respond against complacency and proactively take charge of your life with new ways, new habits and new solutions.

Embracing a readiness for proactive self-change is actually a catalyst for spotting and working out opportunities, which is essentially an act of stepping yourself up to the next level. Setbacks and problems are everywhere waiting for someone to solve and profit from them. If only you have talked to enough people and opened your eyes wide enough, you would have seen that the hotel, airline, retail, tourism and F&B industries, among hundreds of others, are in dire need of help. Every other day, people are looking forward to the next savior who can propose a solution—be it sales and marketing, customer retention, loyalty and affiliation schemes, products and services, technology optimization etc.—that makes them say, “Bingo!”

So for this article, I touched on 3 major issues: embracing the need for change, considering the impact of habits and laying the foundation of principles. He who can work within the ebb and flow of these 3 issues will be enriched with professional experiences. It is with experiences and through awareness of these experiences that wisdom can be cultivated, and with wisdom comes understanding, pertaining to the nature of a problem, in order to arrive at an appropriate solution through creativity and innovation, endorsed by all.