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Like it or not, life is dynamic. Nothing remains static and therefore what today is in one way, tomorrow can be very different. Even so, overcoming resistance to change is a monumental difficulty for many people. In fact, some go to great lengths to ensure that nothing changes.
Most of us want to improve and act on this desire as a cross-cutting goal. However, there are also times when we can think about whether or not to pay the price that this growth implies. Maybe it’s the fear of failure or the fear of the unknown, but there is a force that acts as a resistance to change. So it is possible to stay at the same point for a long time, even if we are not comfortable with it.
Resistance to change is the force that drives us to stay in our comfort zone. Changing means messing up our routine and our inner world. It also involves cherishing the new and challenging yourself. This, of course, can cause some fear, but there is always a way for everything, and overcoming resistance to change also has its own strategies. Here are five of them.
1 – Emotionally attractive goals
When it’s time to change, what will weigh most in your decision is not the reasons that drive the transformation, but the emotions that accompany them. You may feel that you “need” to change something, but the desire to do so is not strong enough. In such cases, it is very likely that you will not be able to sustain your decision to change for long.
That’s why it’s very important to take a hard look at what you really want. When a goal genuinely appeals to you, it’s much easier to overcome resistance to change. Now, if the goal is very important to your life, but you can’t engage your emotions, you may need to take a closer look at what’s at the bottom of the matter. What is hindering this desire for change?
2 – Establish specific micro-goals
It is very important to set a clearly defined goal. Something too general does not help to overcome resistance to change. On the contrary, the more diffuse the goal, the more difficult it will be to focus your efforts on achieving it. So the first thing is to define the goal.
The second thing is to break this goal down into micro-goals. If there are too many, it could mean that you have not been able to sufficiently delimit the main goal. The idea is that you don’t have to do too many tasks to reach the final goal.
Breaking down this process allows you to process it more closely and more easily. It also helps to clearly identify your achievements and reward yourself for them.
3 – Build a vision to overcome resistance to change
Research in this field shows that rational arguments are not enough to overcome resistance to change. It’s possible to have the best reasons in the world for change, but they don’t automatically turn into motivations. Therefore, it is necessary to go a step further.
It is advisable to build a vision of what will be after making the change. Visualize what you will have and also what you will not have if you don’t move forward in the process. In other words, project yourself into the future. What will I be, or what will my life be like if I manage to change? This can be a great motivation.
4 – Short-term achievements
In addition to subdividing the goal into micro-goals, the ideal is for the latter to be short-term. In other words, they don’t require a lot of time investment. If you allow too much time to elapse between goal setting and achieving it, motivation will drop.
On the contrary, when in the short term it is already possible to appreciate the first results, the attitude changes. You prove to yourself that you are effectively changing something in your life. This, in itself, is something that drives us forward.
5 – Changes that strengthen the identity
The identity factor is also very important when planning a move. We often resist bringing a transformation into our lives simply because, deep down, we don’t identify with it. In fact, there are times when we feel that this transformation goes against who we are.
This is because sometimes there are pressures from the surroundings. However, what for some is a laudable goal may not be for you. If we set out to change just to meet the expectations of others, most likely our efforts will be doomed to failure.
These are some of the strategies for overcoming resistance to change. In all of them there is, implicitly, a determining factor: to truly desire this change.
In general, people are always able to give real shape, in a nice way, to their own desires. So it’s good to start there, that is, by asking yourself what you really want to achieve.
