Asher's Blog

I struggle with change.

I’m just realizing this.

It’s really bad, and physiologically and psychologically disruptive. It affects my sleep, my focus, and my productivity rhythms. It throws off my internal calibration system.

I am not even talking about big changes. Just traveling across cities or worse, countries,  affects my routines. My body clock shifts, my diet shifts, my work intensity shifts, my workout routine shifts and my emotional energy shifts. And even though I have built a life that requires constant travel, my nervous system still reacts like it is encountering something unfamiliar.

Sometimes, it takes a few weeks for my mind and body to fully adjust when I travel back home from Nigeria, even though I do this so frequently. You would think repetition creates immunity. It doesn’t or at least not fully. I am beginning to understand that familiarity of action does not eliminate the impact of transition.

But I realized something important: the fact that change affects me deeply does not mean I am change-averse. In fact, I am super quick to initiate and effect change. I am usually very fast. I make a logical decision about change, and then my mind and body follow suite after. The decision is cognitive first, and then, emotional processing happens later.

This has positives — more for me than others, and negatives — more for others than for me.

The positive is that I can take action quickly quickly, and in startups, speed is oxygen. McKinsey says companies that reallocate resources dynamically grow 30–40% faster than peers that move slowly. In high-growth environments, delay is decay.

The negative is that not everyone’s nervous system moves at that pace.

Professor John Kotter noted that 70% of change initiatives fail, not because the strategy is wrong, but because people cannot psychologically transition at the speed of execution. This statistic humbled m because I realised something uncomfortable: sometimes I move so fast that others experience it as instability.

So here are 5 tips in dealing with change, from the perspective of a fast-growing startup.

1. Separate Decision Speed from Emotional Processing Speed

You can decide quickly. But that does not mean everyone has processed the decision.

William Bridges, in Managing Transitions, says: Change is situational. Transition is psychological. 

In startups, we focus on the situational: new hires, new markets, pivots, restructures, product shifts. But people live in the psychological. If you are a fast operator like me, learn to communicate before, during, and after change. Repeat yourself and over-explain. Let people metabolize the shift. Speed in execution must be matched with patience in communication.

2. Acknowledge Material Change Early

In relationships and in companies, small shifts compound. A cofounder’s energy changes. A market dynamic shifts. A customer segment behaves differently. A partner’s values evolve.

Ignoring “material change” does not make it disappear. It just makes the eventual confrontation more painful. Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove said: “Bad news is like fish. It doesn’t get better with age.” In your startup, detect drift early. And in your relationships, name shifts early.

3. Build Recovery Rituals After Transition

If travel affects you physiologically, don’t pretend it doesn’t. High-performance and first-time founders often underestimate recovery cycles. The American Institute of Stress reports that 77% of people experience physical symptoms caused by stress, and 73% experience psychological symptoms. Normalise that travel is stress; scale is stress; growth is stress.

Create reset rituals:
– First 48-hour schedule buffer after travel
– Light work days post-major decision
– Structured reflection after quarterly pivots

Your body and mind need integration time, so, optimise for efficiency and sustainability. 

4. Don’t Weaponize Logic Against Emotion

“I made a logical decision” is not the same as “it was emotionally integrated.” I used to think that if something made sense strategically, that was enough. It isn’t.

Daniel Kahneman’s work shows that human decision-making is dual-system: fast logic (System 2) does not erase emotional processing (System 1). If you override emotion long enough, it resurfaces as burnout, resentment, or detachment.

In startups, data drives decisions, but people drive outcomes. Logic may lead, but emotion should be acknowledged.

5. Change Fast. Stabilize Faster.

Fast-growing startups create constant disruption: hiring waves, market expansion, new capital, new governance, product pivots. But I’ve learned that the faster you change, the more aggressively you must create stability anchors.

– Clear mission
– Non-negotiable values
– Consistent leadership tone
– Reliable communication cadence

Remember that if everything changes, people lose footing. If nothing changes, the company dies. So, the art is controlled acceleration.

I wish you decent continuous change in your journey