How Dissatisfaction Will Make You MORE Successful

Zen and Buddhist philosophies tell you to be calm and accept what you are given.  While that is an important personal approach it is not how things always work best in the professional world.  In this world dissatisfaction can actually drive better results.

Sounds a little crazy doesn’t it?  To help you understand how it works I am going to share with you a special formula for using dissatisfaction to your advantage.  It all comes down to understanding how change works.

Believe it or not there’s actually a formula to understand the components of change!  It was created by Richard Bechard and David Gleicher to describe organizational development but is also applicable to personal change as well.

Here is Bechard’s Formula For Change:

This is how it works:

D = Dissatisfaction

This refers to the level of dissatisfaction you feel with the status quo.  If you are content with what you have then D is low and the impetus to change is low.  The more dissatisfied you are the higher with the current situation the higher D gets and the more likely you are to initiate change.

V = Vision

As already mentioned it’s important to know what you want in order for change to occur.  In this case it is your vision of the results, where you want to go or what you want to change that is important.  The more clear and specific your vision is the higher V gets and the more traction you can acquire in making change.

FS = First Steps

Having concrete first steps to taking action for change is what is referred to here.  Specifically what this means is that you need clarity about actions to take to initiate change.  The more clear you are the higher FS gets

R = Resistance to Change

There are a number of ways to think about resistance.  Resistance can be about fear, time or monetary costs, emotional concerns or any number of issues or reasons that hold you back.  Basically, resistance is anything that stops you from making change.  The greater the resistance the higher R is and the more difficult it is to initiate change.

Now that you know what the variables mean it’s fairly easy to understand the formula.  Using basic algebra you’ll note that the value of the 3 variables on the left (D, V, FS) are compared to the value on the right (R).  If the total product of Dissatisfaction, Vision and First Steps is greater than the Resistance to change then change will occur.  What this means is that any of these values can be large enough to overcome the resistance.

Here’s a numerical example to help you see this:

1 x 1 x 1 > 3  means                        1 IS NOT greater than 3

4 x 1 x 1 > 3  means                        4 IS greater than 3

2 x 2 x1 > 3   means                        4 IS greater than 3

In the first case the resistance to change is greater than the change variables so nothing happens.  In the second case the Dissatisfaction variable is large enough by itself to overcome resistance.  In the third case it’s Dissatisfaction and Vision that are combined to make the value greater than the resistance to change.

But how does all this apply to helping you be more successful?  Well it is simple actually.  The Vision and First Steps in this formula are things that you create when you are ready.  On the other hand Dissatisfaction is a decision you make about your circumstances.

Dissatisfaction is one of the greatest motivators.  It can push you to create the tools you need to shift your results.  The tools themselves only work when applied though.  Bechard’s Formula or describes the elements necessary to overcome resistance.  It does not describe how change gets motivated though.

If you are satisfied with your current results then the likelihood is that you are not going to seek out change.  If, on the other hand, you constantly maintain a dissatisfaction with how successful you are today it will constantly motivate you to strive for even better results tomorrow.

So go ahead and go contrary to philosophy….your results will thank you!