17 Jul Changes Bring Blessings and Challenge

February 5, 2021

“When you are finished changing, you are finished” – Benjamin Franklin

I’ve been around the insurance business for 20 years, and I have seen quite a few changes.  I have witnessed companies that resisted change and loved the comfort that routine offers.  I have also worked with a company that seemed to bring about change for the sake of change, often leaving some it’s best and brightest behind for the less qualified because they were “new”.  Two extreme examples, neither of which are successful in the long run.

Yet, change is constant and it seems everywhere. How we embrace change and learn from our past experiences can be the deal breaker when comes to success.

Change in the Past – My great-grandfather Edwin S. Collins was born in 1901 and lived to be 79 years old before passing in 1980.  I spent many hours with him and was always amazed at the changes he had seen.  When born the primary mode of travel was the horse and carriage.  He lived to see man walk on the moon in 1969!  The world has not slowed down one bit since he left this life.  He would be amazed to see the use of the internet, cell phones, and cars now powered by electricity.

Changes in the Present – Who among us saw 2020 coming?  Few if any of us could have imagined the changes the COVID-19 virus has thrust upon us all.  We have been forced to change or risk the consequences of our actions.  Indeed in recent memory we have seen change in technology, religious belief, politics, race relations, and power.  All these simultaneously simmering together, to leave us working in a quagmire of constant variation.

Changes in the Future – Who really knows what the future holds?  No doubt technology will continue to evolve.  Artificial intelligence, micro sized medical robotics, exploration and colonization of other planets? How does a vacation on Mars sound?  Who knows and one guess is as good as another.  One thing we all can agree on is that the future will not be the same.  Change is inevitable.

So how are handling change these days?  I know it can be hard, and can cause some sleepless nights.  My advice is embrace the amazing changes going on today both personal and professional.  Be opened minded to altering your actions without compromise of the universal absolutes of truth, morality and kindness which are the back bone of Judo Christian belief.  Don’t fear change, but embrace and adapt.  Remember the price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.

Michael Hurley
Owner/Agent
Hurley Benefit Services