Usability is emotionally hard because there is a large gap between how people behave and how they think they behave.

Most website owners and web designers are under the delusion that users are:

• Dumb. They'll click on whatever you want them to click on.
• Interested. They will carefully read every word on every page.
• Rational. They will consider all the facts, prices, features, and compare your product vs your competitors before they decide to buy yours.
• Impressed. Your graphics and Flash animation are so cool that they will tell all their friends about your cool site and somehow also be motivated to buy your product.

The truth, based on decades of HCI and Web usability research, is that users are:

• Smart. They know what they want. And they know when you're taking advantage of them.
• Impatient. Most of the Web is noise which users wade through, rapidly scanning and clicking for what they want. Maybe skimming. Very rarely reading. If you make them actually read something that turned out to be unimportant, they will become even less patient with you.
• Emotional. Psychologists figured out long ago that people make gut decisions then try to rationalize those decisions. Not surprisingly, most people vehemently deny this.
• Selfish. They don't care about you or your company. And they only care about your website and product if it gives them what they want.

Fortunately, once you overcome the emotional roadblocks to usability, the actual implementation of usability is often quite easy.