Why We Resist Change

There are actually three reasons: Disruption, loss, & slowness.

There is a story about two ancient desert monks who had committed themselves to a vow of permanence at their monastery. Though they had pledged to stay at their monastery indefinitely, they longed to travel and explore the world that was now unobtainable.

Therefore, they came up with a plan.

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6. A Guide to Changing Things - [Change & Resistance]

Every six months they would sit and elaborately map out the details of a trip to some part of the world. Every detail was considered and they had before them the directives for how they would fulfill their wanted desire.

Once they were finished with their plan, they would return to their duties and, six months later, plan out another trip. Again and again, they continued this cycle of enjoying the excitement of potential without ever having to make it a reality. Their plan for change always stayed before them.

The Ubiquity of Resistance

Do you actually want to change? Recently, I’ve been putting out a lot of information about change. There’s the debate on if change is actually possible, the argument for change’s inevitability, four general approaches to change, and, most recently, the first real step to initiating change (“The Single Decision”).

What is fascinating is that, for many people, especially those with New Year’s resolutions, we act very similarly to the desert monks. We greatly anticipate and yearn for change and will even take that first step of envisioning, affirming, and orienting ourselves to a teleological destination. There is a certain strength to the willpower behind making the single decision to change. But willpower is not enough.

Yet, before we can grapple with what else is necessary in this difficult, enduring process, we must consider why willpower is not enough. The answer is because we are very resistant to change. In the stages of change, one of the…