Here is a summary of the data collected from our first Idea Xchange survey, which focused on the topic of change. I hope you find the results interesting.

Here we go…
While most of us don’t go looking for change, we’re not change averse, either. “Here we go…” was the response of 86 percent, or six of seven respondents (all Idea Xchange members) to the question “What is your basic, knee jerk reaction to change?” No one picked, “Oh, no!”, but one confident soul did respond “Oh, goody!” Ah well, the rest of us can aspire to that level of flexibility!

No One Wants to Win the Lottery?
When asked select the change we’d most like to make from a list of six, we were about equally split. Three of seven respondents (42.9 percent) said the biggest change they would like to make is to ‘earn more money.’ One person would like to ‘lose weight/get fit.’ Three others would like to ‘be more confident.’ No one picked ‘learn new skills’, ‘win the lottery’, or ‘meet new people.’

No Shrinking Violets
Some of the biggest changes respondents have had to make include divorce; getting fired and/or quitting and starting a business; moving; acceptance of chronic illness and the necessary life redesign around that, and learning how to be paraplegic. A hardy bunch, Idea Xchangers.

Best changes? Three respondents said starting their own businesses was the best change they ever made. One said taking back, and keeping control of her financial life was in the top slot. One is approaching seven years with her current boyfriend because she dared to soften her anti-relationship stance. Another respondent cites a tie between leaving an unsatisfying career as an interior designer and the person she has become since an automobile accident that left her paralyzed. A respondent with a degree in political science and German abandoned the law school track for a career in graphic design.

Seems we’re brave, too.