Why Change Is Difficult: 13 Things You Should Know

Change is challenging. It is one of the most discussed subjects in the world today. Social media, pickup lines, and daily blogs all explain how to alter your views, build new habits, and how tough it is to change on your own.

Change is difficult, especially when you’re used to things functioning one way. When dealing with family, friends, and coworkers, change can be challenging on a personal level. However, according to business executives, the repercussions of change may be even more catastrophic in your career if it goes wrong.

Here are 13 things you should know about change that may benefit you or someone else who is going through a big life transition.

  • Fear of the unknown: You might be scared because this change involves you stepping into unfamiliar grounds. It involves getting to know something from scratch, familiarizing yourself with a new process. This requires commitment to learn and adapt and not everybody is willing to step out of the comfort zone created by familiarity.
  • Getting used to routine: We’ll always resist the initial idea of change because we’re used to a certain way of how things work. If you’re a rigid person and work by the precept of ‘my way or highway’ – this could be why you’re not willing to accept change.
  • Fear of failure: As established before, the unknown is always scary for people. This is majorly because there’s a 100% chance that you might suck at it. And failure is not something we welcome so easily into our lives.
  • No accountability: It’s quite probable that you don’t have any accountability towards this change. You may or may not adapt to it, it’s completely up to you to make a decision on it. However, if you feel that this change is necessary for your growth, pick an accountability partner to keep you responsible at making the right decision and growing in the right direction.
  • Being on the edge: You could be going through some major anxiety. Every new change brings new emotions into place. Be aware of what you’re going through and calm your nerves down before you call the shots.
  • Scared of judgment from others: Change could also be difficult for you’re worried about what others might think. Maybe they’ll perceive your change as positive but they could also look at it as negative. Being too wary of other’s judgments might be the blockage you’re facing when it comes to change.
  • Adapting to change without any purpose: Another reason you’re probably finding change to be difficult is that there’s no real motivation or purpose behind your change. You’re just going with the flow but you’re not taking a pause to reflect on why this change might be important for you.
  • Too many simultaneous changes: A multitude of changes could be holding you back since everything on your priority list is going to be on P-1. When you try to adapt to too many changes at once, you’re bound to not allow your body and mind to accommodate completely to the changes.
  • Comparison and competition: You look at that other person who has been able to achieve stability through the change they’ve gone through. And you think to yourself, why is this so difficult for me if it’s wasn’t so hard for them. Stop comparing your journey to somebody else’s because everybody has a different background and a different set of triggers. Focus on your own growth and change rather than comparing.
  • Only focused on the main goal: You tend to lose sight of the small actions required to make your change happen successfully. If you’re only going to focus on the big vision, you’re likely to disregard your tiny levels of growth. This could be demotivating and you might just consider quitting it all because you fail to see any real change
  • Need for Instant Gratification: That brings us to the next point, which is – instant gratification. The need to be commended right here, right now. We’ve all lost touch with patience. Everything has to be at the tip of our fingers. However, it’s ridiculous to expect that adaptation to change can happen in a wink.
  • Planning with inaction: What could be another barrier in your journey of change is endless planning. You plan and plan but never reach the point where you’re confident of actually pursuing the change. Trust me, I’m all for planning. But it’s also important to identify the sweet spot where planning and action should start going hand in hand.
  • Lack of awareness: We’re all tend to be uninformed or negligent towards how many resources are available to us today. Everything is working for us, in our favour. We can utilise so many apps and tools to help in making change easier for us. Shouldn’t we rather leverage what’s available to us, at least technologically?

Tiny Ways to Make Change Easier to Pursue:

  • Have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve
  • Learn to be comfortable with failure instead of associating your self-worth with it
  • Start with smaller changes and celebrate your tiny successes before you dive in for bigger fish
  • Create a growth atmosphere and talk to people who help you with a growth mindset
  • Connect with people and listen to their change and failure stories

Book Recommendations for Change Acceptance

Share your personal opinions on why change has been difficult for you. You can also read more about my personal views and how I deal with change in my previous blog post.

Until next time!

Ri and Ved @ Productively Yours

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