Change is everywhere, change is hard

You can influence the success of change by planning, having a support system and resilience, etc. But there are a lot of ways that change can go wrong. Here are some resistance factors you need to be aware of during any change, either in your personal life or at work.   

• Taking on too much at once. Even small habit change takes a lot of bandwidth and focus. Putting on your pants differently seems relatively easy to do after repetition. However, imagine completely changing your morning routine. Brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, you reorder your routine like taking a shower before eating breakfast or vice versa. With all those changes adding up, it will be easy to stumble into the next point below.  
• Falling back to comfort. Adoption of change often comes down to the person’s willingness to change. If you’re not ready or willing to change, there’s a good chance you will not. It’s easy to get into a routine and fall back on old habits, especially when the challenge of change seems daunting. Talking about change is different from actually doing the work change entails.  
• Change expands quickly. Focusing on systems is a good way good to stay focused on changing. We usually don’t rise to the level of our goals. Instead, we fall at the level of our systems. If we have sound systems or behaviors in place, change works better and feels like we’re changing one step at a time. What may seem like an easy goal or change quickly becomes many small tasks without the suitable systems in place. Instead, focus on small victories. These can snowball into bigger successes. 
• Don’t give up too quickly. Change is not a linear progression. There will be slips and falls—steps forward and steps back. Sustainable change is usually filled with failed attempts, moments of disappointment, frustrations, and so on. This is OK. Persistence is the key. It may be easier to fall back on routine, but change will never happen if we have that mindset.