Inertia and the Status Quo Bias

An object in motion wants to stay in motion and an object at rest wants to stay at rest. While we have all heard this in physics class, the reality is that it applies beyond the science lab.

When we want to change human behavior, we run into the same principle. I used to think that we all were pulled towards inaction. We would rather choose to sit and relax instead of going to work out.

But it isn’t that simple. That doesn’t explain those who exercise regularly. It doesn’t account for those active well into their senior years. It doesn’t explain marathon runners or ironman winners.

See the full spectrum to gain more perspective. Those in motion want to stay in motion and those at rest want to stay at rest. It aligns with the idea of systems and habits running our lives.

If we create the habits to drive us in a direction, those habits become automatic. They propel us forward perpetuating the current status.

Therefore, if we want to change something, we have to understand this bias. We must know how it will impact our desire for change.

If we want others to change, we should know what they are currently doing. If we expect a sudden shift, we will be disappointed when change isn’t quickly adopted. Even if we do a great job explaining the benefits of the change, we will still encounter resistance.

Instead, we have to better understand habit change. How can we implement change that will create new habits?

It isn’t just in a team setting that this is challenging. If we want to change something in our own lives, we will run into the power of habit. We will have to overcome that inertia. We must understand the power of the automatic response and craft new behavior patterns to counter it.

This takes time. But the good news is that once we learn how to do this, we unlock how to improve our lives. We can create new automatic behaviors.

This is the true power of the systems and habits approach to improvement. By understanding how to break the inertia to bust through the status quo, we understand how to improve our lives.

Then, because we know how to build and rebuild systems, we can allow the new change to gain force. It becomes the new status quo. It uses inertia to keep going.

Spending the time and effort to break through current habits is important because it unlocks the ability to improve over time. We can put in place new, better habits.

If you find yourself unable to change, realize that inertia is powerful. It doesn’t want to give up easily. It doesn’t want to allow in new momentum. But this is precisely the reason we need to do it. We need to be able to redesign the systems and habits in our lives so that they provide the stable foundation on which we can continue to improve throughout our lives.