The Hard Problem of Change

People don't resist change, people resist being changed - Peter Senge.

Imagine someone trying to push you into a swimming pool when you don't want to swim. You might resist because you don't like being pushed around, right? It's the same with change.

We don't like it when we feel forced to change, like someone else is controlling us. We want agency and prefer to decide for ourselves. The reality, however, is that even when we have agency and want to change, it's not so straightforward because our brains won't let us.

Our brains are wired to prefer familiarity and routine, making it difficult to break out of established patterns of behavior or thought. This resistance isn't just psychological; it's physiological too. Our neural pathways and habits are so deeply ingrained that altering them requires significant effort and, often, discomfort.

All systems go - Fast and Slow

The brain's operation can be explained through a dual-process theory, which differentiates between two main types of cognitive processing: System 1 and System 2.

• System 1 - fast, impulsive, automatic, and operates with cognitive ease. Responsible for the quick, gut reactions and decisions. It's the part of our brain that processes information rapidly, without us being consciously aware of it.
• System 2 - deliberate, effortful, slow, and conscious, involving cognitive strain. Kicks in when we're solving a math problem, making a decision that requires careful consideration, or learning a new language. System 2 requires more energy and is activated when we need to focus our attention on more complex tasks or when we need to override the automatic responses of System 1.

While System 1 allows us to make quick decisions and understand the world around us effortlessly, it is also prone to biases and errors in judgment. System 2, while more reliable, is slower and requires more cognitive resources. More often than not our brain and body optimise for conserving energy and staying in System 1. Which means that we keep defaulting to familiar patterns of behaviour. To bring about any significant change we must design our environments in a manner that make it easier for us to default to new patterns of behaviour.

Not just habits - we're creatures of Chemistry and Biology

There are significant biological and chemical concepts that are foundational to understanding our physiology and biochemistry. Chemical imbalances can cause, change or reinforce patterns of behaviour in us.

Neurotransmitters: Dopamine & Serotonin (Mood regulation)

Dopamine and serotonin are crucial neurotransmitters in the brain, playing significant roles in regulating mood, emotions, and several other functions of the body. Dopamine is often associated with the reward system, motivation, and pleasure, while serotonin is linked to mood stabilization, feelings of well-being, and happiness. Their balance or imbalance is critical in various psychological conditions, including depression and anxiety.

Endorphins: Natural pain relief and euphoria

Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland. Known as the body's natural pain relievers, they are released in response to pain and stress but also during exercise, eating, and sex, contributing to feelings of euphoria, modulation of appetite, release of sex hormones, and enhancement of the immune response.

Mitochondria: Cellular energy powerhouses

Mitochondria are organelles within cells that play a crucial role in energy production. They convert energy from food into a form that cells can use, ATP (adenosine triphosphate), through a process known as cellular respiration. Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell because of their role in energy production. They also have other essential functions, including regulating cellular metabolism and involvement in the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis).

Each of these topics is fundamental to understanding the chemical and biological processes that underpin human health, behavior, and physiology.

Emotional Intelligence: Empathic Distress vs Compassionate Action

Empathy is our ability to feel deeply into another emption - joy or pain. Empathic distress is when you feel overwhelmed by someone else's suffering. It's like you're feeling their pain so much that it starts to stress you out. It can be so intense that instead of helping, you might feel frozen or want to run away because it's just too much.

Compassion is the ability to sit with someone's pain in an awareness of ones own current reality. It is when you see someone in trouble and you feel for them, but instead of just feeling bad, you get this urge to help. You might be sad for them, but you're also kind of energized to do something about it. It's like seeing someone fall down and you not only say "Ouch, that must hurt," but you also reach out to help them get back up.

Emotional Override: Amygdala Hijack

What is Amygdala Hijack? The Amygdala is the reptilian part of our brain and gets activated by stress and can have a disproportionate emotional response to perceived threats. It triggers our fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode.

Modern Triggers: Breaking news, ongoing wars, global pandemics, climate change, organisational restructuring, relationships conflicts, digital notification & social media overload.

Effects on Decision Making: Clouded rational thinking, impulsive reactions and short-term focus over long-term impact.

Loss Aversion, Sunk Cost and Anxiety of the New:

Loss Aversion is the idea that we're more affected by losses than by gains. Developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky as part of Prospect Theory, it suggests that losing something makes us feel worse than the good feeling we get from gaining the same thing. For instance, losing $100 upsets us more than how happy finding $100 makes us. This fear of loss can make us overly cautious and influence our choices in a way that we might avoid risks, even when there could be significant benefits.

Sunk Cost Fallacy occurs when we continue with a decision or course of action because we've already invested in it, not because it's the best choice moving forward. This thinking error makes us focus on what we've already lost or spent (time, money, effort) rather than what we stand to gain or lose in the future. It can trap us in bad investments, unfulfilling jobs, or unsatisfactory relationships simply because we feel too invested to quit.

Anxiety of the New deals with our fear of trying new things or embracing change. This anxiety is often rooted in uncertainty, a lack of control, and the fear of the unknown. It can make us resist changes that might lead to personal growth, innovation, or improved adaptability in changing environments. Our preference for stability and fear of the unknown can prevent us from seizing new opportunities or making changes that could improve our lives.

Our natural tendency is to avoid risk and loss, cling to past investments, and resist the unfamiliar limiting our ability to make rational decisions, accept beneficial changes, and explore new possibilities.

Structures Shape Behaviours

In his book Atomic Habits James Clear talks about the three levels at which change can occur

1. Outcomes – changing results (events) – losing weight, publishing a book etc. Most goals we set are associated with this level.
2. Process – changing habits and systems (behaviours and structures) – implementing a new routine at the gym, developing a meditation practice, writing an essay everyday etc. Most of the habits we build are associated with this level.
3. Identity – changing beliefs (mental models)- self-image, judgement about ourselves e.g. I am a lifelong learner, it's too late for me to change, I am lazy, I am humble etc. Most of the beliefs, assumptions and biases we hold are associated with this level.

Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe.

Falling to the Level of our Systems

James Clear is known for saying 'We don't raise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems' and rightly so. And these systems are not just the environments we design around us, but also the chemical and biological internal systems.

I have better system design than most people - I have gone back to wearing my CGM, I track my sleep, I'm on a 75hard challenge (these spikes are fruits and oats - they are spikes because I sat stationary and ate all day none the less), I have an accountability group, and I'm sharing my journey transparently on LinkedIn to drive further accountability. And yet I spent today defaulting to eating mindlessly and therefore avoiding intense/ rigorous physical activity as a result. For the last 2 weeks I've been coasting on the Yoga mat, just the way I did today, and for now I'm dreading the mandatory 45 min walk I have to do post my client call at 8:30PM EST. (I finished writing the article post the call)

WFT is up? I haven't been compassionate towards myself. My sleep cycle is messed up. I haven't hugged another person in months. I haven't had a regular period in 7 months. The more I push myself by setting up external systems for productivity, the harder my internal systems are getting pushed and therefore are fighting back. The lack of sleep is also causing my blood glucose to act up, leading to higher spikes than normal from fruit consumption and therefore steer crashes causing me to want to eat again.

Where am I going with this?

Cause and effect are not close in time and space. Understanding systems, even our own, requires us to suspend assumptions and drop judgments.

I am not a lazy person with low willpower. I am a human being with sleep deprivation, imbalanced hormones, and too many life changes in an environment where I have access to high-quality, calorie-dense food all day long (I'm not cribbing about my privileges; I am accepting my current reality).

It is only once I drop the value judgment—lazy/active, fat/fit, good/bad, weak/strong—that I can stop resisting "what is." Often, progress means scaling back, simplifying, or removing certain aspects of our lives rather than adding new ones.

I will go for my 45+minute walk now, perhaps it is my sunk cost fallacy; perhaps it's my wiring, perhaps it's because I really need the sense of forward momentum after spending practically the whole day in front of the screen.

Regardless, I do understand that I need less value judgment, a couple of extra hours of sleep everyday, and a little more self-love. My self-image will take care of itself.

Reflection

This internal conflict between wanting change and the discomfort of actually undergoing change speaks to the intricate dance between desire and capability. It's not just about making a decision to change; it's about overcoming the mental and physical barriers that our own bodies put up against it. Understanding this can help us approach change with more compassion for ourselves and others, recognizing the complex interplay of factors that influence our ability to adapt and grow.