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More than half of workers say the pace and complexity of change feels genuinely difficult to navigate.

Researchers suggest pursuing efficiency leaves us with nothing left when surprises hit.

Studies indicate people who sense and adapt to change succeed more than those trying to control it.

Lately, have you been telling yourself that if you just power through the next few weeks, things will settle down—only to find more changes keep landing, and your energy keeps draining?

If you’re nodding along, you’re far from alone. And here’s the part worth knowing: the exhaustion you’re carrying isn’t a capability problem. It isn’t a discipline problem. Most of us have been using the wrong strategy for the kind of changes we’re now facing.

A Speed Strategy on a Complexity Problem

Our latest research with almost 1,000 American workers shows the scale of what’s happening. Eighty-three percent of workers navigated a significant change in the past year; 54 percent say the pace and complexity feel genuinely difficult to navigate. And 53 percent are now showing signs of distress related to those changes: fatiguing quickly, quietly cracking, or burning out. If you’re feeling worn down, you’re in good company.When uncertainty feels overwhelming, our instinct is to do more. To control it. To fix it. To smooth it over. To talk more about it. After all, that’s what may have worked in the past.

But complex changes, the kind that are layered, dynamic, and relentless, can’t be outrun by doing more. The harder we push, the more chaos we create around us.

This is how change fatigue sets in. Not because we’re not doing enough, but because we don’t feel safe enough to........

© Psychology Today