New Ideas vs. Old Ideas - Which Will Win?

"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones."
- John Maynard Keynes

The past month has brought on much change in my life, as well as for some very close to me. Although most of it is positive change, it's not always easy to adapt. The quote above stood out to me because I realize that there are new ideas every day, in business and in life, but escaping from some of the old ideas is part of what makes it difficult to embrace the new ones.

We've built a pretty good business over the past 10 years and we've built up quite a client base. In doing that, it makes new ideas and changes within the company a little more difficult to implement as some of the changes will affect our long-standing clients. We are also fortunate to have employees that have been with us for quite some time, which may also have a hard time adapting to new changes in the company. Naturally, any new clients, or new employees, won't have any problem coming in and understanding the changes that were recently implemented, but the old ideas, or the ones we are used to, can sometimes keep the new ones from coming to fruition.

The same applies personally. I'm always thinking about what's next and how I can make things better. The problem is that much of what I'm thinking about affects more than just my own life. It also affects my fiance's, my family's and sometimes the lives of those that depend on me at work. This is where balance really comes in to play - finding a way to balance implementing new ideas without completely disrupting some of the old ideas. Of course it's important to point out that this balance is only necessary if you're concerned about the reaction of those around you. Ultimately if you want change to happen, it's often easier when you get the "buy-in" from those around you, who can help make the transition necessary to embrace the new ideas, rather than resist the change and threaten the success of it actually happening.