April Rinne - Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change

FLUX

Flux

Copyright 2021 by April Rinne

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First Edition

Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-9359-5

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9360-1

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9361-8

Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-9362-5

2021-1

Cover and text design: Debbie Berne

For Roland and Penny,
without whom this would have never been written

And for Jerry,
my guide, muse, and partner in flux

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

JOHN C. MAXWELL

That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence.

PEMA CHDRN

When was the last time change hit your life?

Im guessing it was pretty recent. Most likely earlier today, at the latest perhaps yesterday. It may have been a big change, or it may have been small. It may have been a change you precipitated, or at least opted into, or it may have clobbered you out of nowhere, beyond your control. Schedule changes, job changes, changes in your familys health or well-being, organizational changes, environmental changes, political changes, changing expectations it all hits close to home.

On the one hand, change is universal and inevitable. Regardless of your age, profession, culture, beliefs, traditions, goals, or anything else, change predates humans and has shaped the entirety of history. Indeed, the primary reason youre alive is because of it!

On the other hand, change is disorienting. Too often it leaves you feeling unmoored, reeling and adrift. Too much change hijacks your ability to show up to life fully today and influences how you perceive the future.

Humans really struggle with change, especially change we did not choose. We resist it, we fear it, and we mistakenly believe we can control it. The more you try to keep change at bay, the more it shows up and the harder it bangs on the door. Despite our best efforts to prevent it, change happens.

And its not just change; its todays ever-increasing pace of change too. Taken together, it can feel relentless and sometimes just a bit (or way, way, way) too much.

It feels like we should have hit peak change by now, no?

But the simple fact is: around every cornerwhether that corner is this afternoon, next week, next quarter, next year, or next centurythere is more change. The future is not more stability or more certainty. The future is more uncertainty, more unpredictability, and more unknowns.

To thrive in this world in flux, we need to radically reshape our relationship to uncertainty and flip the script (dont worry, youll learn what this means) to sustain a healthy and productive outlook. Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change shows you how to do exactly this, and how to help others do so too. It is a book to be shared, revisited, and passed along when change hits yet again. It is not a book about change management or any one kind of change. Rather, it is about reorienting ones attitude towards uncertainty and the unknown, and learning to see every change as an opportunity, not a threattoday, tomorrow, and from here on out. In other words, Flux is a book for these times and all time.

Part personal guidebook, part strategic roadmap, and part blank canvas for discovery, Flux provides a refreshing, unconventional take on navigating change today and far into the future. Each of the eight Flux Superpowers helps you see differently, grounds you in your truth, and empowers you to thriveno matter what changes come your way.

Whether youre leading an organization or a team, building or rethinking your career, forging new relationships, seeking peace, or simply feeling unsure about what to do next, youll gain tools and insights for how to think, learn, work, live, and lead better with a Flux Mindset. Flux shows you how to slow down responsibly, identify what really matters, make wise decisions, and let go of the rest. Flux challenges your assumptions and expectations in ways that enable you to lean into the future with hope rather than fear, and with clarity and confidence anchored in what makes you, you.

Are you ready?

April, are you sitting down?

In the early evening of June 6, 1994, I was standing in the foyer of a rambling Victorian-era house in Oxford, England, home to a motley crew of students from around the world. I had spent the afternoon doing laundry and packing, preparing to lead a student trip for the summer. The sun dappled the window with a view to the garden. I had one more year of college and was so excited for this next adventure.

The voice on the phone was firmer this time: April, I need you to sit down.

My sister had called out of the blue, from halfway around the world. We were not close, and I couldnt figure out why she would be calling. I had so many things I wanted to do before departure. Didnt she know that?

April, Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident yesterday. You need to come home now.

I sat down. My eyes glazed over. The ground gave way beneath me. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. Then I tried again, and it shook the house.

You might imagine where this story heads: my entire world was thrown upside down (or today I would say, it was thrown into flux). My roots were uprooted; my guiding lights went dark.

In that moment, time stood still: the future was going to be wildly different than Id imagined, or than my parents imagined, or than it had looked a year earlier, or even an hour earlier.