The Inertia Default
The inertia default pushes us to maintain the status quo. Starting something is hard but so too is stopping something. We resist change even when change is for the best.
The Latin word inertia means literally "inertness": that is, laziness or idleness. In physics, "inertia" refers to an object resisting a change in its state of motion. Hence, a popular way of stating Newton's first law of motion---the law of inertia---is this: "A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest."
Objects never change if they're left alone. They don't start moving on their own, nor do they stop moving till something stops them. This law of physics can also be applied to human behavior and our instinct to resist even beneficial change. The physicist Leonard Mlodinow sums it up this way: "Once our minds are set in a direction, they tend to continue in that direction unless acted upon by some outside force." This cognitive inertia is why changing our minds is hard.
Inertia keeps us in jobs we hate and in relationships that don't make us happy, because in both cases we know what to expect and it's comforting to have our expectations reliably met.
One reason we resist change is that keeping things the way they are requires almost no effort. This helps explain why we get complacent. It takes a lot of effort to build momentum but far less to maintain it. Once something becomes "good enough," we can stop the effort and still get decent results. The inertia default leverages our desire to stay in our comfort zone, relying on old techniques or standards even when they're no longer optimal.
Another reason we tend to push back against change is that doing something different might lead to worse results. There is an asymmetry to change---we take negative results to heart more than positive ones. Worse results make us stand out for the wrong reasons.
Inertia is evident in many of our daily habits, such as when we stick to the same grocery store brand even if a new, superior one appears on the market. This reluctance to try new products is often due to the uncertainty and effort involved in evaluating them.
The "zone of average" is a dangerous place when it comes to inertia. It's the point where things are working well enough that we don't feel the need to make any changes. We hope things will magically improve. Of course, they rarely do. For example, staying in a relationship that is too good to leave and too bad to stay is a perfect example of the zone of average. If things were much worse, we would act, but since they're not terrible, we stay, and hope things get better.
Doubling Down When You're Wrong
As the famous quote often falsely attributed to Charles Darwin goes, "It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."
When circumstances change, we need to adapt. But inertia closes minds and stifles the motivation to change how we've been doing things. It makes it harder to imagine alternative methods, and discourages experimentation and course correction.
For instance, we often put something on the record to establish expectations and social pressure to meet those expectations. When new information challenges one of our statements, we might instinctively dismiss it and emphasize the old information that supported it. We want to be consistent with what we said. Changing our minds becomes increasingly difficult.
Inertia also prevents us from doing hard things. The longer we avoid the hard thing we know we should do, the harder it becomes to do. Avoiding conflict is comfortable and easy. The longer we avoid the conflict, however, the more necessary it becomes to continue avoiding it.
Groups create inertia of their own. They tend to value consistency over effectiveness, and reward people for maintaining the status quo. Inertia makes deviating from group norms difficult. The threat of standing out in a negative way too often keeps people in line.
Inertia keeps us doing things that don't get us what we want. It operates in our subconscious largely undetected until its effects are too hard to counter.
Step 1
If you find yourself biting your tongue in group situations, or if you find yourself or your team resisting change or continuing to do something in one way simply because that's how you've always done it in the past, be on your guard! The inertia default is likely at work.
Step 2
To overcome the inertia default, you need to cultivate the four key strengths we discussed earlier: self-accountability, self-knowledge, self-control, and self-confidence. These will give you the power to press pause on your defaults and make decisions based on reason rather than habit or fear of change.