Do you know the hidden force keeping you stuck?

Resistance: The Hidden Force Keeping Us Stuck

There’s a quiet but powerful force inside us that sabotages our best efforts to create meaningful change. It’s resistance — and it’s always lurking in the background, making us second-guess, hesitate, and even procrastinate on the things that matter most.

Resistance isn’t just something writers face when they hit a creative block. It’s universal. Whether you’re launching a business, changing careers, or diving into any big, bold project, resistance is there. It whispers doubts into your mind: What if this doesn’t work? What if I’m not ready? It wraps your heart in fear, holding you back when you’re on the edge of greatness.

And what happens next?

We freeze. We stagnate. We stand at the threshold, stuck in place, too scared to leap forward.

But here’s the twist — deep down, we don’t want to stay stuck. We want to feel like we’ve done something, like we’ve taken the plunge, like we’ve crossed that scary chasm into something new. So, we trick ourselves into feeling like we’re moving forward by doing things that give the illusion of action, without actually making progress.

Here are some of the ways we let resistance derail our potential:

1. Shipping Too Early

Sometimes, we’re so eager to avoid the discomfort of deep work that we rush to "ship" a project before it's ready. We tell ourselves, “I’ve invested so much time, I can’t just keep tweaking.” But shipping too soon often leads to failure, and in some twisted way, we welcome that failure — it’s easier than facing the hard work required to make it successful.

2. Chasing Perfection

On the flip side, we can get caught in the perfectionism trap. We endlessly tweak, adjust, and refine, thinking we’re moving forward when in reality, we’re just stalling. If we never ship, nothing will ever happen. We stay stuck in the same place, “improving” our project to the point of paralysis.

3. Overthinking Everything

We ask endless questions, constantly searching for the perfect answer or the right moment. It feels like we’re doing something productive, but all we’re really doing is postponing action. Our adrenaline fades, and soon enough, another shiny new project lures us into the same cycle of hesitation.

4. Skipping the Tough Questions

Sometimes, we dive in without asking the hard questions. We start projects on a whim, ignoring the key factors that determine success. We know deep down it’s not fully thought through, but we hope that somehow it will work out. Spoiler: It won’t. Without the right foundation, real change is impossible.

5. Blaming the System

It’s so tempting to blame the system — the market, the economy, the “flawed” system we’re working within. When things don’t go as planned, we can take comfort in the idea that it wasn’t our fault. It’s easier to feel like a victim of external forces than to take responsibility for our own actions (or inaction).

6. Ignoring the System Entirely

On the other extreme, we might get overconfident, believing that if we throw all the rules out the window, we’ll somehow create something revolutionary. We refuse to navigate the complexities of the system, only to find ourselves sinking when our “trailblazing” idea doesn’t take off. And then we blame the system again, convinced it’s the cause of our failure.

The bottom line? Any action held back by resistance leads nowhere. If we want to see real change, we have to confront that inner force head-on. We have to push past the fear, stop rationalizing, and take the risks that are necessary for success. Only then will we break through the resistance — and finally create the change we’ve been dreaming of.