A leopard doesn’t change its spots, or so says my friend Louis all the time. I think that tells us that if we want to change you need to go from being a leopard to being a crow, or being a trout, or a chetah… anything other than a leopard. That is in fact what I asked you to do last week. Go from the old you to testing things out as the new you. Go from being an ant to being a giraffe. As I start writing this, this whole idea of a leopard not changing its spots makes more sense to me. If you could change your spots, add some, remove some, change their location… you would still be a leopard. Being a different leopard still makes you a leopard.

You are the biggest anchor holding you back. What did you do to break free from the old you and start spending time as the new you? I think I mentioned early in the blog, when I got divorced, I purposely made a list of things I had to change. I was fairly quiet, so I intentionally began talking to strangers in the store, talking to the cashier…to become more outgoing. I wanted to learn how to draw, so I bought how to draw type books and started drawing… point is, you are whoever you want to be. I even started using a new name at work to be a new me. I told people it was my nickname… Maybe you can’t stay in role as the new you for long but at least you can test drive the new you. Do it again and again so that you get comfortable going in and out of role. Then work on staying there longer… then longer… it’s hard to change. You most likely won’t change overnight like Scrooge did but you can change rapidly. If the change you undertake isn’t hard… it probably isn’t significant enough. What got you here won’t get you there.

This Week’s Talk

We see Scrooge really being the new Scrooge in earnest in this scene.  He goes out of his way to get to work early so he can mess with Bob Cratchit, and jokes with him before giving him a raise. Just giving Cratchit a raise is completely out of character. Scrooge asks Cratchit to get more coal and to warm up the office. Scrooge extends a sincere merry Christmas to Cratchit. All the things Scrooge is known for, he does the opposite. Scrooge offers to help Cratchit’s family however needed.

Scrooge had the “good fortune” of Marley watching over him and intervening before it was too late.   If not for the haunting, there doesn’t appear to be some motivating force in Scrooge’s life that drove him to want to change. Desire is the fulcrum that drives our ability to change. A deep and compelling desire provides more leverage than something insignificant and shallow. Scrooge saw his own life unravel at the end. He had no one around when he passed, he saw how people disrespected his possessions after he passed, Scrooge got to see many of the things he missed out on and opportunities he let slip passed.

We are almost at the end of the first phase of the blog as we get to the end of the book. You have gone through all the exercises, I would guess you have watched the movie, maybe went back and actually read some or all of the book.  You know Scrooge’s story. You have to know your story. You have to know it as well and as detailed as you know what Dickens wrote. You wrote yours. As I asked in the beginning of the blog, who is going to visit you? What are you going to leverage to precipitate your transformation?

This Week’s Assignment

Cratchit was late to work because, as he tells Scrooge, “I am behind my time.”  “I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.” “It’s only Once a Year, sir”. So says Bob Cratchit as he is being (unbeknownst to him, jokingly) scolded by Scrooge. Before we realize that Scrooge is doing this just to mess with Cratchit, we initially feel like Scrooge hadn’t learned his lessons and is back to being Scrooge. Then we see the new Scrooge emerge and the whole scene where he gives Cratchit a raise, where he invites Cratchit to a bowl of Bishop, where Scrooge offers to do what is needed to help the Cratchits and help Tim get healthy.

This was a test. Scrooge could have fallen into his old patterns, but he didn’t. We know what an issue Scrooge made out of Cratchit taking a day off paid so imagine how profound a change it is that Scrooge doesn’t actually do anything about Cratchit being late. Scrooge has a long record of being cheap, yet, of his own free will, offers to double Cratchit’s salary. That too is a sign of a massive change.  Maybe most of all, Scrooge uses the whole opportunity to have some fun with Cratchit. That is unimaginable. Scrooge… with a sense of humor.

Your assignment this week, figure out what your tests will be, and how you will respond. What will show you that you have in fact made your own transition? Let me remind you of how we started this week… don’t just change your spots around. Go big. Be a new, better you.

See you next week…