All growth and change invites resistance.

Systems are everywhere:

Your body’s mechanics.
The government.
Your computer.
Your habits.
Corporate policies.
Bureaucracies.
Cultures.
Industries.
Family dynamics.
Relationship dynamics.
Workflows.
The routes you take.

All of these are systems.

Some systems are created without our input and we are forced to work within their limits.
Other systems we create ourselves.

Anything you do repeatedly, you have a system for it.

Systems are everywhere.

The most important thing to know about systems is this:

All systems are invested in their own survival.

Here’s an example:

When your body perceives a threat, it activates the sympathetic nervous system, also known as fight/flight/freeze. It’s a stress response. Your body floods with adrenaline and cortisol to spur you to run or fight, or it shuts down. It does this to stay safe. It’s the way the system ensures it’s survival.

Similarly, the body sends pain signals to alert you when something needs attention. This is another way it ensures its survival.

The ego resists change. That’s it’s way of ensuring survival.

And this is why changing any system is hard: the system is invested in its own survival. Even systems that aren’t working are invested in self-preservation.

If you want to facilitate or initiate change in any system it’s important to recognize this tendency because you’ll bump up against it.

This is the force behind what we often call the Resistance.

All systems are invested in their own survival.