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ChangeLinks is a semi-regular series at Never the Same River Twice. Each edition will feature one aspect of personal or organizational change and point the way to resources that explore the problem and suggest solutions.

The United States (and much of the rest of the developed world) is on the brink of one of the largest demographic shifts in human history. Within the next 10 years, most of the Baby Boomer generation will have reached retirement age, causing unprecedented amounts of turnover at the leadership levels of all types of organizations. This is definitely going to be a time of rapid change!

My day job is in the nonprofit sector, a part of the economy that has grown exponentially thanks to Baby Boomer founders and the Reagan-era devolution of government. The average age of organizational leaders (many of them the founders of those orgs) in the sector is rapidly approaching 60 and we are all trying to figure out what to do about it. It’s a huge challenge, but also a huge opportunity and I want to highlight some resources that are helping organizations with those transitions.

The Building Movement Project offers a series of free reports looking at generational change and leadership transitions. Although their stuff is written mostly for nonprofit leaders, the ideas are applicable to many types of small business.

Rosetta Thurman is a passionate emerging leader in the nonprofit sector. Her blog Perspectives From The Pipeline focuses on the next generation of leadership and the new characteristics that Generation X and Y leaders bring to the table.

Jim Carroll is a futurist who shares a very funny, but telling story of the generational disconnect between Baby Boomer traditionalist and Millenial technologists. I do have to say this though, “Jim, put your videos on YouTube!”

Employee Evolution is a site that helps Millenials transition into the workplace and find fulfilling jobs. You’ve got to love a job coaching site that includes an article titled, Ask These Questions to Make Sure Your Boss Won’t Suck.

The Millennials are Coming! is a hyperbole riddled, but informative video about some of the major values of the Millennial workforce. I’m somewhat reluctant to recommend it, but it’s probably worth 12 minutes.

Finally, I’m going to self-promote a bit and point to my post What is MeBranding and Why Does It Matter For Your Nonprofit? Again, this is written with nonprofit needs in mind, but this new type of mass customization has a lot of implications for all types of organizations.

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There’s been more updates to the Personal Development Partners site and subscription options. Aaron announced a few days ago that he is converting the 6 month subscriptions to $20 EVERY month. The good news is, if you join now at the $20 for 6 months price you will be grandfathered in at that rate for as long as you are member. He is also adding a new subscribers-only podcast, as well as offering his e-coaching program all included in the membership. Even at $20 per month, this is a steal!

This edition of ChangeLinks features lots of great tips and tools about a subject that is near and dear to many of our hearts: positive thinking. It seems like we all want to get better at this skill, but progress can be frustratingly slow - at least for me.

Fortunately, these bloggers have shared ideas that helped make them happier and their thoughts more positive. Perhaps they’ll work for you.

Complaining is a big cause of unhappiness, and it’s one that is almost epidemic in a lot of families, offices, and groups of friends. Two A-list bloggers have written some great advice for putting the kibosh on this bad habit. In How to Stop Complaining, Steve Pavlina suggests observing your negative thoughts from a distance and recognizing that they are not your identity. He argues that assuming total responsibility for everything in your life gives you action steps beyond complaining.

On a more concrete level, Tim Ferris shared his Real Mind Control: The 21-Day No-Complaint Experiment. In this experiment, he wore a wristband which he had to move to the other wrist every time he complained. I’m a big fan of this technique because it reinforces mindfulness and gradually retrains thought patterns.

David Rogers at Confident1.com has more practical tips for training your mind. His post, Distract Yourself From Self Talk, suggests that you use a disruption technique such as clapping your hands to interrupt a negative thought.

Some of the most positive people I know are always working in pursuit of their dreams, but they do so in very down-to-earth and achievable ways. The Simple Dollar post, When Everyday Life Gets in the Way of Your Dreams shares a great process for continuing to work towards those dreams while still fulfilling your responsibilities at work, with your family, and in your community.

Finally, for those of you interested in learning about some of the more theoretical aspects of happiness and positive thinking, Loving-awareness.org offers Joy at All Times. This post features a great illustration of the spectrum of joy which starts at joy at just being alive and goes all the way through the joy of being one with everything.

So, here you have a great collection of ways to increase your positivity within a few days. What are you waiting for? Grab yourself a rubber band and start thinking positively Then come back and tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Ed. note: I’ve decided to experiment with a new format for ChangeLinks. Instead of listing posts as they are released, I’m going to group them by theme. In line with one of my compass directions for the year, I’m doing this to add more value and education to these posts. If you like this, let me know in the comments. If you don’t … let me know in the comments!

As you might have figured out from my post, Having Goals Will Make You Blind!, I’m no longer a fan of New Year’s resolutions. However, many of you are going to make them or have made them anyway. This edition of ChangeLinks focuses on different perspectives of the resolution game. I hope this collection makes your year better than ever!

One of the big problems with those December 31 resolutions is that they usually only last a week or two. Adam Kayce of Monk at Work teaches us How to Make These New Year’s Resolutions Stick. I really enjoy Adam’s concept that New Year’s creates a “credible amnesia” that lets us believe we can escape the momentum of our past. The good news is that he believes it is possible to overcome this momentum and make real changes.

When setting goals of any kind, all of the experts tell us to be specific and action oriented. In New Year’s Resolution: Say “No” More Often!, Marina Martin at Sufficient Thrust walks through a case study of a fuzzy goal and makes it actionable. She accomplishes this by setting up a process, a review schedule, and action items that make a very abstract concept very concrete and useful. Great stuff.

If all of this talk of losing weight, drinking more water, and watching less television is just making you tired, you will want to check out A New Year’s Revolution: In Search of a Simple Life. Simone at Outfit Inspirations will guide you through a process of un-committing and streamlining your life.

In a post after my own heart, Blaine Moore of Run to Win explains why New Years Resolutions are Bad For You. In short, they cause procrastination, depression, and injuries. And all of this from a guy that trains people for marathons!

Last (and definitely least ) for today is this bit of wisdom from Getting Nothing Done ™. As you might imagine, GND is a humorous response to the cult-like popularity of the Getting Things Done book and community. The GND New Year’s Resolution Method ™ explains in great detail how to get exactly nothing done in 2008. Take that, Merlin Mann!

I hope this little collection of posts helps you on your way to making 2008 whatever you want it to be. If not, don’t blame me, I told you so!

  My bookmark list is getting ridiculously long lately! This whole blogging thing has gotten me reading more and more great content around the blogosphere. Now I need to share some of the good work being done by my fellow bloggers.

Trent at The Simple Dollar does a weekly book review related to productivity and personal development. I’m in awe of a guy that can work a full time job, post to his blog 4-5 times per day, care for a family with 2 small kids, and cook! Actually, I may hate him… But I really liked his review of to Dale Carnegie’s How Stop Worrying and Start Living.

Henrik at The Positivity Blog is usually all light and joy. However, he decided to share some hard truths in his post Five Things You Might Not (Want to) Know About Self Improvement. I’ll give you a hint - it can be really hard.

Rick Maurer is a Change Management consultant whose process is called Change Without Migraines! I love the name and really enjoyed some audio he recorded that addresses two critical pieces in the change management process.

Paul Cox of Excel Training & Consulting recently published this handy list of 8 Steps for Making a Change in Your Life. I think his last point about linking enjoyment to the change process is key. There’s no need to dread change, people!

Ryan Carson of A List Apart is a freelancer. So is his wife. His post The Four Day Week Challenge shares the story of how they cut back their work hours and how it has helped their businesses.

If you are still looking for more reading material after getting through this list, you have too much free time However, if you’re bound and determined to procrastinate the day away, at least you can do it by browsing through over 400 personal development sites. Happy reading.

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a ChangeLinks post, and it’s not for a lack of lots of talented people producing lots of great content. In fact, it’s been too hard for me to choose what to highlight! Here is just a small sampling of the great change and personal development material I’ve read recently.

Scott H. Young shared a great post at Lifehack.org with 15 Steps to Cultivate Lifelong Learning. These are all great, but I especially like 12) Follow Your Intuition. As Scott writes, learning is all about the journey and it’s sometimes best to have no goal in mind.

I recently came across an interesting site called 30 sleeps. In the site’s own words, “30zzz is an online community to set, manage, and track your goals on the world stage.” The combination of goal tracking with community support and accountability is a powerful motivator.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Stephen Shapiro. His blog entry How to Change Your Results by Changing Your Language is a powerful reminder that we have to frame our goals in ways that our subconscious will believe is possible.

The always cool Slow Leadership blog explains Why Your Flawed Notion of Change May Be Holding You Back. This post presents a great argument for why organizational change can happen in a bottom-up fashion.

And from the NSRT archives I humbly present Not All Change is Created Equal - Multiple Levels of Change.