Let’s face it. Change is a part of life. You do things differently today than you did months ago. Chances are that you made some new year’s resolution that required some change on your part. Unfortunately, change is not always easy. I’ll go as far as to say that change is hard! Nobody likes to change…we have so much momentum going in our current direction that in order for us to stop, analyze or realize that something needs correction and then to apply the necessary change takes a whole lot of time and effort from us.The thing that even trumps effort is the fact that change is hard. Creating new habits, inventing new processes, embracing our creativity and all the other things that comes with change is not easy for most people. Below I outline the top 5 things that make change difficult. Learn these things and be aware of them so that next time change is necessitated on your part, you’ll recognize these items and be better prepared to make a successful transition!

1. Change is difficult. Any kind of change is difficult because you have to start doing things differently. It means letting go of your old way of doing things; a new way of life, so to speak. If change is to be successful, you must persevere and agree to do things differently for a certain time period. Commitment to change is key to success.
2. You may be happy with the way things are. The “status-quo” is a comfortable place. You know how things work, you know why things exist and you know how to get things done. The thing is that if you wish to make things better, easier, more efficient, and more streamlined then you need to let go of the way things “used to be”. One of the hardest aspects of change for me is learning (or figuring out) how to do things better. This usually means doing things differently and this process is normally confusing and uncomfortable.
3. You many not be ready for change. Some people or websites are too quick on the trigger and make changes before the blog or business site is ready for change. I’ve made that mistake in the past. That is, shortly after creating a website that was on its way to making me a little money I decided to completely redesign the site. After the redesign, visitors were not clicking through nor making purchases and my online income suffered. The site wasn’t ready for change and by me forcing a new design, things turned sour.
4. You may not understand what needs to be changed. Everything has a learning curve, even blogging. To be successful, I believe that you should use the “review and revise” method so that you’re always looking back and changing the bad for good. This can be a web design or a process that you do on a daily basis. The hard part is recognizing what is bad and what is good. Understanding the difference is hard and adds a degree of difficulty to change.
5. You may be threatened by change. When people give you suggestions or critiques, or when you realize that some kind of change is necessary, one of your first reactions will be to either be defensive or to be intimidated by change. This is because you may not have been aware that such a change was necessary or because you may not even have known that anything was wrong in the first place. Don’t be threatened by comments or critiques, but rather, look at them as a chance to make your site just that much better!

Aside from the fact that change is hard, change is a powerful and positive force in everything we do. When we do things differently, we realize that there are different options in the things we do and therefore figure out a way to make our lives easier or better. I encourage you, in your blog, business or personal life, to find something to change and just do it. Do you normally wake up at 8 in the morning to get to work by 8:30? Then change and start waking up at 7. See what kind of a difference an extra hour can make in your day. Do you spell check your blog posts? Start checking them to see what kind of a difference that makes to your readers. Do you want to do better in your business life? Then go to the book store and take a look at the new books out there and buy one or find a friend so that you bounce ideas off of each other. Like the old “Nike” ad said, “just do it!” You’ll be better for it!