Have you think or decide recently to start something new, it could be anything from going to gym, write a chapter, study a chapter, launch a project or to start a youtube channel and there’s a familiar invisible force pulling you back.
It’s subtle, but powerful.
Something from internal whispers: “Not today”.
This force will try to convince you, there is still tomorrow and suddenly you will feel tired, unprepared or not ready. This is Resistance.
How to overcome resistance is the powerful skill to learn for personal transformation.
Because once you defeat resistance, you will see discipline, productivity, action, consistency eventually follow. Resistance is a predecessor to another mental block as well, which we all know by name “procrastination“. So overcoming resistance will take you one step closer to overcoming procrastinating as well.
What Resistance Really Is : Why it is so powerful
Resistance has many definitions, it’s not lack of motivation, you can’t even say it’s laziness. It is the brain’s defense-system. If we look step further, it’s a fear-based defense system. It will try to keep you safe.
Whenever you try to do something new, any step towards the growth, or in simple words anything you never tried before or not comfortable to try, your brain triggers resistance to keep you safe.
Here just try to understand “growth” and “safe” words. Growth will throw you into unfamiliar, unpredictable situation. On the other hand, Safe means predictable which eventually means familiar and which leads again to your old personality.
If you don’t know how to overcome resistance, the positive habits like working out, reading, or creating content will become hard, because you are trying go against your brain’s need to keep things the way they are.
So just shift your perspective and start seeing resistance as a signal to growth.
5 Different Forms of Resistance
1. The Delay
“I’ll do it later.”
This is the most common form—procrastination disguised as planning. You can plan, but resistance keeps you away from taking action.
2. The Distraction
Suddenly your phone becomes interesting.
You open Instagram “for one minute” and lose 30. You are spending so much time on phone not because you are watching something interesting, it’s because you will feel uncomfortable or uneasy when you go back on the task.
3. The Overthinking
You convince yourself you don’t know enough to begin. Again here leading factor to overthinking is fear. You are tricked into perfectionism and keep waiting for right moment.
4. The Emotional Block
Your emotions make the task look impossible. As we discussed in the beginning, you may feel tired, overwhelmed, bored, or anxious. You are not out of time, but your emotions are not letting you work on the actual task. May be you are okay to get up and watch the Netflix and you will not realize the moment your tiredness will go away.
5. The Identity Argument
This is about how you see yourself. If you are not willing to do something there is always many reasons you can say to yourself like “I’m not a disciplined person” or something like “I can not stick to anything”.
This is dangerous form of resistance making you believe you are the main hurdle.
You can read the related post on How to Create an Identity that Fuels Consistent Action.
Identifying which form attacks you is the first step in learning how to overcome resistance.
How to Overcome Resistance: The Only Formula That Actually Works
1. Shrink the Starting Point
Resistance is strongest at the beginning. If you take the very small smart, and begin it, you already weaken the Resistance there.
Instead of:
- “I will write for 1 hour” → say “I’ll write 3 sentences.”
- “I will study 3 chapters” → say “I’ll study for 5 minutes.”
Your do not resist for 2-3 minutes activity. Eventually over the time, this will be transformed to longer sessions.
2. Don’t Trust Your Feelings in the First 10 Minutes
It doesn’t matter how you feel for first 10 minutes of the activity. You will feel uncomfortable most of the time. That discomfort is not real inability—it’s resistance screaming. Once you passed the 10 minutes, and some time has been spent on the activity, you will feel better about the activity.
Make this rule for yourself:
“Feelings don’t exist for the first 10 minutes.”
3. Build a “No Thinking” Environment
To overcome resistance, change the environment. Make the things easily available to you related to the activity or Task. For example if you want to start reading, keep the books where you sit. So you can easily grab, instead of giving yourself and scrolling the phone.
Other Examples:
- Lay out gym clothes at night
- Keep your phone in another room
- Start your day with a fixed routine
- Use a work/study playlist
- Pre-plan your tasks the night before
4. Separate Your Identity from Your Action
Don’t say negative or discouraging phrases for yourself like “I am undisciplined”.
You can improvise here a little, and can say, “I can feel resistance sometimes, but I takes and action”
This shift removes the shame and makes consistency a behavior.
5. Use the 90-Second Rule
This is my favorite one. Whenever resistance shows up, your brain creates an emotional spike. Science shows most emotional spikes last 90 seconds.
So:
Set a 90-second timer.
Sit with the discomfort.
Don’t act, don’t quit, don’t switch tasks.
The moment 90 seconds passes, that emotional spike will go away, and you will be ready for the task. Resistance will disappear.
There is really good article by Psychology Today The 90-Second Rule That Builds Self-Control.
How to Overcome Resistance: Final Words
Every time you beat resistance, even for a minute, you reinforce the identity of someone who takes action and are developing the core skill for personal transformation “how to overcome resistance“.
And that identity is the foundation of success.