Change Lessons from My Part-Time Italian Life: The Year Three Change Plateau

My brain ached, incapable of learning one more verb type:?regolari, irregolari, passato prossimo, imperfetto, trapassato prossimo, condizionale. And the future tense? Absolutely not.

After three years of online individual classes, countless workbooks, flashcards, and conversations with my cousins, I had reached my limit. I could not absorb one more tense or grasp another nuance of the Italian language.

When my wonderful Italian teacher suggested transitioning into advanced group classes and the next round of lessons my brain rebelled. I needed a break. A pause. Time for me to digest what I already knew. I wanted the words to roll off my tongue effortlessly, to think in Italian instinctively, to have conversations that felt fluid and natural. For that to happen, I needed to stop inputting any new data into my head. I couldn’t—no,?wouldn’t—cram another tense, rule, or vocabulary list into my overwhelmed brain.

Hilary Scarlett (2019) explains that?“our brains want to conserve energy and therefore tend to be lazy… and desire to take the path of least resistance.”?That was me. The mere thought of putting my language skills on display in a group setting—knowing it would come with more studying, more pressure—felt undoable. My brain had reached its limit.

Does this sound familiar? Maybe not with language learning, but within your organization.

If you’ve ever led or experienced a major transformation, you may recognize a similar pattern. Around the?three-year mark, resistance reemerges, overload becomes visible, and change fatigue takes hold. It’s not that people don’t believe in the change anymore. It’s that they’re exhausted.

As humans, we can only absorb so much disruption to our norms, processes, and relationships before we instinctively?pull back—either by choice or by necessity.?My experience as a change consultant suggests that?year three is a critical turning point.?The novelty of transformation has worn off, the steep learning curve has flattened, and reality sets in. We think we can settle in, “we’ve got this”, and then, Bam! Another round of changes are announced. Why? Because transformation is never just?one?change. It’s an ongoing evolution.

The Daily Dose of Change vs. A Time to Pause

As we plan transformational change, at what point do we pause and let things settle? How do we?recognize when an organization needs breathing room?before people’s heads explode?

Think about the busiest times of the year in your company. For managers, it might be salary and performance review season. For sales teams, the end of the fiscal year. Should we?hit pause on the next big announcement?and let employees focus on what’s expected and routine?

Too often, organizations push forward, assuming that change must be constant. But when everything is changing, people struggle to keep up—and disengagement follows.

The Drip, Drip, Drip of Change vs. the Rolling Wave

I recall a merger project with?a steady rollout of changes over several years.?Each change seemed manageable—until one day, people revolted.

The announced change wasn’t even operationally significant. It had?minimal impact on employees. But resistance spread like a tidal wave. It wasn’t the change itself that triggered the pushback—it was the?cumulative weight?of too many changes over a span of time.

Timing matters. Is bundling better than the constant drip of one alteration after another? Organizations must balance momentum with moments of stability.

The “Done to Me” vs. “Done by Me” Change

I had the power to?say no?to more Italian lessons. But many employees don’t feel they have that choice. Change is?done to them, not with them. They are forced into?new behaviors, new tools, new expectations, without a sense of control.

But what if we changed the approach?

I still study Italian every day—on?my own terms. Babbel, flashcards, and casual practice fit into my life?at my pace, by my prerogative. Could we design change initiatives similarly?

Instead of dictating?every step, what if organizations defined the?end goal?and allowed employees to navigate their own path toward it? When people have agency, their?brains engage in the change rather than resist it.

Rest, Reset, and Readiness for the Next Chapter

I know that in a few months, I’ll be ready to re-enroll in Italian classes. My brain will have had time to?rest, assimilate, and?internalize?what I’ve already learned. And who knows I may in fact need to learn the future tense as I plan for the next phase of my part-time Italian life.

Scarlett, H. (2019). Neuroscience for organizational change: An evidenced-based practical guide to managing change.

.