By now, you've no doubt realized a basic fact of life: the only constant in the business world is change. Ironically, most of us prefer things to remain the same because change steals our time and makes us expend energy—two resources often in short supply.

As a result, many of us mourn change, because it often wrecks our comfortable lives and carefully laid plans. But do it too long and you disengage from your work, productivity falls, and when you do wake up, you have to work harder and run faster than ever just to stay in place.

Here are 5 ways to maximize your productivity through times of significant change: