Overcoming Resistance To Change

Motivations, arguments and even the advice of others are not enough to overcome resistance to change. The key is to want to change by making that transformation reinforce our identity, rather than deny it.

Like it or not, life is in constant motion. Nothing remains static and for this reason what appears in one way today may appear in another tomorrow. Overcoming resistance to change turns into a titanic effort for many people. Ironically, some try too hard just to not change anything.

Most of us are constantly trying to improve and act in accordance with this will. Sometimes we come to wonder if it is worth paying the price for such a change. Perhaps it is fear of failure or the unknown, but surely there is a force that acts as a resistance to change. Precisely because of this force we risk remaining still, even if we do not like our situation of immobility at all.

Resistance to change is the force that pushes us to keep ourselves in our comfort zone. Changing implies altering our routine and our inner world, as well as facing the new and challenging ourselves. All of this can cause fear. But there is always a way to succeed in our challenges. To overcome resistance to change, there are several tricks. We reveal five of them.

Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change

1. Emotionally attractive goals

When it comes time to change, what weighs the most are not the reasons that push towards the transformation, but the emotions that accompany it. Sometimes you feel the need to change something, but the mood that accompanies it is not the best. In these cases it is possible that the motivation does not last long.

It is very important to examine carefully what you really want. When we set ourselves a goal, it is much easier to overcome resistance to change. If that goal is important to us, but we fail to accompany it with positive emotions, perhaps we need to focus better on what you will achieve when the goal is achieved. What stands in the way of that desire to change?

2. Establish concrete micro-goals

It is very important to set a clear and defined goal. Staying vague does not help overcome resistance to change, quite the opposite. The more vague the goal to be achieved, the more difficult it will be to concretize the efforts towards that goal. The first thing to do is therefore to clearly define our goal.

Subsequently, the objective is divided into micro-objectives. If there are too many, perhaps we have not “segmented” our goal well enough. The ideal is not to have too many actions to carry out to reach the goal. We need to break it down to make it more manageable and easier to reach. At the same time we try to monitor our progress and rejoice in it.

3. Build a vision

Studies carried out in this field tell us that rational arguments are not sufficient to overcome resistance to change. We may have all the best reasons in the world to change, but that doesn’t automatically turn into motivation. Something more is needed.

The advice is to build the vision of what will be encountered once the change is realized. See what you will get and what you will lose if you don’t complete the journey. In other words, we need to project ourselves into the future. What will we be like or what will our life be like if we get the change? This can be a strong motivator.

4. Short distance goals

In addition to dividing the objective into micro-objectives, they must be established at a short distance. In other words, goals that don’t take a lot of time. If you let too much time pass between the goal and its realization, the motivation fails.

On the contrary, when the goal is placed at a short distance and the first results can be appreciated in a short time, the motivation changes. This will allow us to prove to ourselves how much our life is actually changing. A more than valid motivation in continuing towards change.

5. Changes that reinforce our identity, instead of denying it

Our identity is also very important in the process of change. Many times we resist a transformation in our life simply because we don’t identify with it at heart. In fact, there are occasions when we perceive that the transformation is putting us in danger.

This happens because sometimes we are under pressure from the surrounding environment. What is an appreciable goal for some, or for all, may not be for others. If we force ourselves to change just to meet the expectations of others, our efforts will most likely be doomed to failure.

These are some of the tips for overcoming resistance to change. In each of them a fundamental factor stands out : the desire for change. In general, we are all able to give a real shape to our desires. What we have to do is to start with them, thus asking ourselves who we really want to become.