Trapped by Familiarity
Why the hardest change is often the simplest one
A customer called, simmering with frustration over a string of terrible experiences. They rattled off every awful encounter they’d had with professionals recommended by our organization. I listened with empathy, but somewhere between the third and fourth complaint, a thought began to nag at me.
If the experiences were that bad, why keep coming back for more recommendations?
I don’t have the answer.
But I know this: captivity gets comfortable.
One of the deadliest phrases in existence is, “That’s the way I’ve always done it.”
Doing something simply because it’s familiar isn’t reasoning—it’s resignation.
So I ask myself often: What change am I afraid to make, and if I made it, could it change everything for the better?
Most of us aren’t trapped by circumstance; we’re trapped by familiarity. The door’s been unlocked the whole time, but comfort convinced us to stay put.
The way you’ve always done it might not be wrong, but it could be the lock on your door—the one keeping you from what’s next.