Why do people say change is hard?

Change can feel daunting. That's one explanation for why people resist change. But it's not the only explanation. It may not even be the best one.

We generally accept the statement "change is hard" and assume that's why people resist it. But what if people are already resistant and reflexively say, "Change is hard." to justify avoiding it?

"Change feels hard" is different from "Change is hard."

The first statement is a subjective quality someone assigns to change. It's a projection of personal feelings of difficulty and discomfort into change.

The second statement is an objective quality inherent to all change. It says that difficulty and discomfort are fixed characteristics of change regardless of how you feel.

This creates two different flows of cause & effect that explain resistance to change.

Cause & effect flow #1:

1. I'm willing to change, but it's pretty hard now that I'm directly experiencing it.
2. Therefore, I'm going to resist this change.

Cause & effect flow #2:

1. I'm not willing to change. So I resist it.
2. Therefore, I'm going to say it's too hard.

See the difference between the two flows?

The fixed attitude and mindset of resistance people bring to change causes them to project more difficulty into change than actually exists.

Some change is hard, but not all change is hard.

Next time you feel the tug of resistance, double-check the cause & effect flow in your mindset.

The time is now. Do the work.