Why Is Change So Hard?

Change is part of life and change is normally, extremely necessary. Some of us love it, and some of hate it, but however you feel about it, there’s no denying that change can be very difficult.

So to make any transitions easier, we find it beneficial to understand the reasons behind our feelings. Why is change so hard? what is it about it adjusting to new surroundings or adapting to new ways of doing things that makes a lot of us dig our heels in?

So here are four reasons why your colleagues, and maybe even you, sometimes want to resist change as though it were something evil.

Work – Change takes a lot of time, lot of effort and a lot of work. We live in a fast paced society of instant communication and immediate gratification. We crave immediacy and our microwave mentality means that we don’t know how to wait for anything.

Change requires discipline, decisions, courage and commitment, and sometimes that just seems like too much work.

Belief – In order for something to change, there has to be belief in the change process. Having faith that whatever changes that you make will result in a positive outcome takes courage, and it also means taking a risk.

Having belief in a world where facts and figures reign supreme can be a big challenge for some people.

Fear – So many companies and work places resist change and moving with the times because of fear of the unknown. Although we know we need to move away from our previous ways and the ways of the past, we tend to hold onto them as a sort of a security blanket.

We need to stop holding onto old ways, and realise that change is a positive thing.

New Routines – Our routines are safe, and familiar, and comfortable, and although most of us complain about how our every day lives lack so much excitement, we would probably complain even more if our routine was upset.

A routine is just that, routine, therefore it’s relatively natural that we resist when it changes.

We’ve included this infographic from torbenrick.com to further explain why some employees may resist change.