I heard a saying recently, which I'll paraphrase. "To truly change and transform, you have to go through the garbage dump." It's true in lots of situations. When we clean out closets, we empty, sort, sift and repack. When we remodel our homes, we demolish first, then rebuild. Either way, things often look worse before they look better.

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was go to the garbage dump. Hear me out! The place smelled awful, but it was so cool to watch the huge "chompers" pick up the trash, move it to the compactor and squish it into smaller, neater bundles.

Why can't adults approach change with this childish fascination? Who wants to go to the garbage dump, let alone through it? Even the team phases, Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing have a "garbage dump" phase - storming. Relationships have garbage dumps too like the first fight, the stress of moving or the joys and pains of raising children.

Looks like life is actually a continuum of garbage dumps. If we focus on the fascinating process of dumping garbage, maybe we can be more objective about the smell it produces or the pain we feel during change. Our perspective can change our whole attitude. Let's go to the garbage dump and experience transformational change! I call shotgun!!