ICHAK ADIZES reflects on how change undermines what we take for granted—and what it takes to sustain love, health, and success over time.
If you want to fail in marriage, business, or life, take things for granted. Take your spouse, children, work, success, health, and love for granted. Wait, and you will fail.
After all, what happens when we take, let’s say, our health for granted, and we stop taking care of ourselves?
Let’s apply the same prescription to marriage. When we were courting, we worked hard to earn the love of the one we desired. We did not take love for granted. But some of us, once we were married and got the love we wanted, took love for granted from then on. We believed love would go on forever on its own. And guess what happened?
So, why do we keep taking things for granted?
We assume things will stay the same. We do this for a reason. Adapting and striving for success takes energy and can be frustrating. But doing nothing requires no energy at all, and we all want to conserve energy—this is basic physics.
What undermines our “success,” however, is exactly this: change. Situations change. What was true in the past is not always true in the present—and even if it is, it may not remain so in the future.
Never take anything for granted—
democracy, love, health, work.
Everything changes.
Stay alert and maintain what is valuable.
Never take anything for granted—democracy, love, health, work. Everything changes. Stay alert and maintain what is valuable. Maintain your car, house, health, career, and marriage. As one of my clients said, “One honeymoon is not enough for a lifetime of marriage.”
If we think achieving a goal means we’re done, and we take our success for granted, we are writing a prescription for our own future failure.
Ichak Adizes
Dr. Adizes is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading management experts. He has received 21 honorary doctorates and is the author of almost 30 books that have been translated into 36 languages. Dr. ... Read More
