Have you ever finally got around to doing something you’d been putting off for ages and then immediately wondered why you didn’t do it sooner? It happens all the time… You spend weeks, months, or sometimes even years telling yourself you’ll look into it eventually, but there always seems to be something more urgent to deal with first. Then one day you finally make the change, and the annoying part is that it often wasn’t nearly as difficult as you’d convinced yourself it would be.

The thing is that waiting doesn’t always feel like a decision because most of the time it just feels like getting on with life, but that’s also how people end up sticking with things long after they’ve stopped being the best option. Keep reading to find out more.

You Get Used To It

One of the strange things about frustration is that it doesn’t always stay frustrating because at first, you notice it every time, like the extra steps, the delays, the awkward bits, or whatever else is making life more difficult than it needs to be. Then, after a while, you stop noticing it quite so much because you’ve learned how to work around it.

That sounds like a good thing, but sometimes it isn’t because getting used to something can stop you from asking whether it still makes sense.

You Assume Changing Will Be A Bigger Job Than It Really Is

A lot of the time, people aren’t avoiding change because they’re happy with the current situation; they’re basically avoiding it because they’ve built the change up into a huge project in their minds.

They assume there’ll be research to do, decisions to make, new things to learn, and all sorts of questions to answer, so it feels easier just to leave everything as it is for now, and the problem is that for now can last a really long time.

You Stop Looking Around

Think about the last time you found a new restaurant, a new app, or even a new way of doing something you’ve done for years – there’s a good chance you weren’t actively searching for it, and you probably just happened to come across it.

The trouble is that when people stop looking altogether, they also stop seeing what’s changed around them. New options appear, better solutions become available, and different ways of doing things emerge, but if you’re not paying attention, you never really get the chance to compare them with what you’re already using.

Curiosity Usually Starts Somewhere

More often than not, when someone starts looking for something new, something’s prompted the search. Perhaps someone recommended another option, maybe a process has started feeling more frustrating than usual, or perhaps you’ve found yourself asking the same question several times – is there a better way of doing this?

For example, businesses looking at Stripe Connect alternatives for SaaS are usually doing it because something has sparked that curiosity, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unhappy, but it often means they’re interested enough to see what else is available.