Have you ever known something in your life or career needed to change — but every time you considered it, your brain immediately offered a hundred reasons why it was too risky, too hard, or just not the right time?
That’s not wisdom. For most high-achieving leaders, that’s the lie.
The belief that change is hard is one of the most common,
and most costly, patterns among leaders.
It feels rational. It feels responsible. But very often, it’s the exact thing keeping you stuck inside patterns that are quietly draining your energy, your clarity, and your potential.
In this episode, Blake breaks down why your brain resists change even when you know something isn’t working, how misalignment shows up long before anything breaks, and how to move forward without taking a massive leap.
There’s a belief most people carry without ever questioning it: that change is hard.
And on the surface, it feels true. Because every time you consider doing something different, your brain immediately offers reasons to stay where you are. Reasons that sound responsible. Rational. Even smart.
But what if that belief isn’t protecting you… it’s actually the thing keeping you stuck?
In this episode, we break down how your beliefs shape what you see, how you make decisions, and ultimately what you create in your life and work. When you believe something isn’t possible, you stop looking. And when you stop looking, you stay inside the same patterns, even when they’re no longer working.
We also explore how misalignment shows up long before anything breaks. In the quiet signals. The exhaustion that keeps repeating. The sense that there has to be something more, even if you can’t fully see it yet.
And most importantly, we shift the way you think about change itself.
Because real change doesn’t require blowing everything up or taking a massive leap. It happens through small, intentional shifts that reduce friction, restore energy, and create momentum. When you start working with yourself instead of against yourself, change doesn’t feel heavier… it starts to feel possible.
In This Episode, You’ll Discover
- Why change feels so hard even when something isn’t working
- How beliefs about change keep you stuck in the same patterns
- Why your brain creates logical reasons to avoid change
- What happens when you stay in misalignment too long
- How early signs of misalignment show up in your life and work
- Why overthinking and rumination prevent real progress
- What’s actually happening when change feels overwhelming
- How small, intentional shifts create meaningful change
- Why change doesn’t require a big leap to be effective
- How to move forward in your career or life without risking everything
Episode Highlights
The belief that quietly keeps you stuck
[00:45] – Why “change is hard” feels true… but often isn’t
[01:20] – How your brain creates logical reasons to stay where you are
[02:10] – Why staying the same can actually create more risk
The early signs of misalignment most people ignore
[03:15] – The whisper → knock → bang progression
[04:00] – Sunday dread, low energy, and quiet dissatisfaction
[05:10] – Why rumination keeps you stuck instead of moving you forward
A different way to create change
[06:00] – Why change doesn’t have to be extreme to be effective
[07:00] – How to “raise the floor” of your life and work
[07:55] – Building momentum that restores energy instead of draining it
Powerful Quotes
“The belief that change is hard is often the lie that keeps us stuck.” — Blake Schofield
“We cannot create from a place of contraction.” — Blake Schofield
Resources Mentioned
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Transcript
Blake:
Real leadership. Real life. Real impact. No more choosing between your career and your life. Here you’ll find honest conversations, science-backed strategies, and inspiring stories to help you thrive at work and truly enjoy your life outside of it.
I’m your host, Blake, and I’m honored to help you create more impact with ease.
Blake (00:12.462)
There was a moment in a conversation I had yesterday that reminded me of something I see all the time. Where someone hears what’s possible for their life and the immediate response is, well, that sounds really hard. And that belief that something is going to be difficult, that change is hard, is often the very lie that keeps us stuck. Because here’s what I know to be true.
The excuses our brain gives us to continue living the way we’ve been living, to continue making decisions the same way we’ve been making them. They seem rational. They seem responsible. It feels like we’re protecting ourselves from risk and doing the quote unquote right thing. But very often those things are actually keeping us from the growth we’re meant to step into.
Because when we’re so focused on holding on to what we’ve known and how we’ve done things, most of the time we’re actually creating more risk and we’re making the journey harder, not easier.
One of the very first things I always focus on is helping people understand what their belief around change is. Because what you believe is what you will create. If you believe something is impossible, it will be. If you believe change is possible, if you believe that things can get better, you will start to seek and find ways to do that.
I have a quote on a board in my house that says,
The only limits you have are the limits you believe.
And I know how true that is because I’ve lived it.
Blake (02:03.278)
Ten years ago, I felt trapped in a very successful career that was honestly killing me. My stress levels were sky high and I felt like there was no way to replace my income. I couldn’t figure out how I could do fulfilling work without continuing to sacrifice my life.
And my belief systems were that it wasn’t possible, that I would have to take a pay cut, that this is just what life looks like if you’re successful, that the amount of effort I was putting in was necessary to reach that level and sustain that level of success.
Blake (02:43.072)
And those beliefs, not my circumstances, were what kept me trapped. Because when you believe that, you’ll close yourself off from seeing anything different.
Blake (02:57.986)
When we’re in misalignment, it will always show up. First is a whisper, then a knock, then a bang, and eventually the whole house will come down. Life is always teaching you lessons. You will get the alarm that tells you what you’re doing isn’t working.
It might start small, that late feeling at night or heaviness in the morning, the Sunday scaries, the quiet sense that there must be something more than this. It might show up as exhaustion at the end of the day that keeps repeating over and over again, or frustration that you feel lost and don’t have clarity on how to move forward, or on how to create the change that you want, or even what that looks like. And it’s easy to get caught in the pattern of believing that change is hard because our brain is wired to repeat what we’ve done before.
It’s not wired for growth. And very often, our brain is a liar. The longer we stay stuck in these patterns, we start ruminating, thinking about our circumstances over and over and over again. But that rumination, it’s not actually helping us find a solution. It’s us avoiding feeling something.
We are not wanting to accept a reality that we’re currently living in.
In order to create the change you seek and in order to continue to grow, you have to be willing to see reality. Maybe the reality is you’ve been stressed or unfulfilled for a while. Maybe.
Blake (04:49.59)
Maybe the reality is that despite the things you’ve tried to do to solve it, it hasn’t changed. Maybe your reality is that you believe that there has to be something better, but you’re surrounded by people who are telling you you should just be happy with what you have.
As someone who’s spent the last nine years and tens of thousands of hours studying this, living it and embodying it and helping hundreds of leaders change their lives, here’s what I know to be true. Change does not have to be hard. It’s our belief about change that keeps us stuck. But it does require courage. It requires us to surrender the belief that what we can see right now is the full view of what’s possible; it will challenge us to take different actions.
And one of the biggest things I’ve always been focused on is how to create positive change in your life and career without the risk, without having to sacrifice your income, without having to give up the things that matter most to you. Because most people believe change has to come in one big leap, but that’s not true. And often when people try to do that, it creates so much pressure, it actually works against them.
You can create incredible positive change in your life through small daily and weekly actions where you start to raise the floor, where you begin fixing things that are creating friction, stress or draining your energy. It does not have to be hard. It actually can be pretty simple. And that change can happen in a way that allows you to adapt and learn and move forward without having to have all of the answers.
So today, if you are seeking something more for your life, I want you to ask yourself one question.
Blake (06:50.348)
Are you looking at your situation from a place of lack, fear, and scarcity? Or are you looking at it from a place of growth, opportunity, expansion, and possibility? And what it is that you truly want to create? Because the answer to that question, it will tell you everything. We cannot create from a place of contraction. We cannot move forward and grow when we’re not willing to take steps forward in a different way than we have before.
And so my hope for you today is to encourage you to step into courage, to surrender the idea that you have to know exactly what it looks like, and to be willing to take one small step forward towards the future that you want. It doesn’t have to be risky. You do not have to take a leap.
When you are moving forward, when you are moving towards what’s aligned with the life that you want to lead, it actually can feel easier. It builds momentum. It refuels the energy that you’ve been struggling to connect with. And as you take each one of those small steps forward, you begin, and as you begin to take each one of those steps,
And as you begin to take each one of those small steps forward, you begin to realize something powerful. You have so much more ability to create the life that you want than you once believed.
Blake:
Most Successful People don’t realize they’re in burnout, because stress and exhaustion have become so normalized, but burnout is actually a sign of deeper misalignment between how you’re wired to thrive and how you’re actually working and living. Fix the misalignment and everything changes.
Take the free quiz at www.impactwithease.com/burnout-type.com to discover your burnout type and get next steps to reclaim your energy, lead with confidence and create more ease in your life and career.
