I've been in a funk. Maybe it's the stress of some changes that have occurred recently in my life but overall I'm just not in a happy place but that's fine. When you're not in a place of contempt it usually triggers a person to make radical changes and push themselves to accomplish more which is where I am now. Don't get me wrong... my life is far from in shambles. Actually if I laid out the changes most people would ask why am I complaining but people hate change. Change is uncomfortable and people resist change which is one of the reasons why people will stay in situations that aren't beneficial to them. But change is also necessary to grow. This topic is one that has been studied and delivered to business leaders everywhere but leaders understand that change often bring about optimal results. Harvard Business Review has covered this topic and below are a few reasons why people resist change but one thing that we can take from this is to understand and internalize how it impacts us and overcome the adverse feelings associated with it.
Excess uncertainty. If change feels like walking off a cliff blindfolded, then people will reject it. People will often prefer to remain mired in misery than to head toward an unknown. As the saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.” To overcome inertia requires a sense of safety as well as an inspiring vision.
Everything seems different. Change is meant to bring something different, but how different? We are creatures of habit. Routines become automatic, but change jolts us into consciousness, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Too many differences can be distracting or confusing.
Loss of face. By definition, change is a departure from the past. Those people associated with the last version — the one that didn’t work, or the one that’s being superseded — are likely to be defensive about it.
Concerns about competence. Can I do it? Change is resisted when it makes people feel stupid. They might express skepticism about whether the new software version will work or whether digital journalism is really an improvement, but down deep they are worried that their skills will be obsolete.
More work. Here is a universal challenge. Change is indeed more work. Those closest to the change in terms of designing and testing it are often overloaded, in part because of the inevitable unanticipated glitches in the middle of change, per “Kanter’s Law” that “everything can look like a failure in the middle.”
Ripple effects. Like tossing a pebble into a pond, change creates ripples, reaching distant spots in ever-widening circles. The ripples disrupt everything else that may have been of routine in our lives therefore we start to push back, rebelling against changes.
As long as we're aware of all these points regarding how abrupt change can cause us to be uneasy then it's worth persevering on the new road. So if you're like me and your going through a recent spurt of change ride it out. The summer is upon us and even the weather is going through changes so a little pressure builds character. You'll be okay... and together lets make significant change in our own lives for the better.
