The Things We Keep Doing (Even When They Don’t Work)

Every night at around 8:30 p.m., my cat starts getting antsy. She attacks the dog. Pats at my hand. Climbs over me. Knocks things off the table.

The reason? At 9 p.m., she gets her treats.

What she doesn’t realize is that the treats are automatic. They’re on a timer. Nothing she does makes a difference. But in her head, there’s a clear cause and effect. Act up, get treats.

And the thing is, we do the same thing.

The Habits We Think Work

How many of our own routines, habits and rituals are built on the same logic?

??Checking emails first thing in the morning, convinced it makes us more productive.

??Sticking to a way of working just because it’s what we’ve always done.

??Sitting in pointless meetings because we think we have to.

??Recurring meetings that don't serve any purpose.

Even when we know these things don’t really change the outcome, we do them anyway. Because they feel like they do.

We mistake motion for progress.

The Monk and the Cat

There’s an old Zen story about a Buddhist monastery.

During evening meditation, a cat kept getting in the way. So the master told the monks to tie up the cat. Problem solved.

Years passed. The master died. The monks kept tying up the cat.

More years passed. The cat died. So they got another cat and tied that one up too.

Centuries later, scholars wrote elaborate theories on the spiritual significance of tying up a cat during meditation.

What started as a simple, practical solution became tradition. People followed it without questioning why.

Just like my cat at 8:30 p.m. Just like us.

When the Ritual Becomes the Reality

I used to think getting angry with my kids worked. That if I raised my voice or snapped, they’d listen. It never did. And yet, for a long time, I carried on doing it. It didn’t work. It didn’t make either of us feel better. But it felt like doing something.

Rituals, routines and habits are good. They give us structure, predictability, and focus. They stop us from having to rethink everything from scratch every day. But only if they still serve their purpose. When they stop working, when they become something we do just because we’ve always done it, that’s when they hold us back.

Time to Break the Illusion

Just because something worked once doesn’t mean it works now. And just because something feels productive doesn’t mean it is.

So the question is, what’s your version of the 8:30 p.m. ritual? What habits do you swear by that might not be doing anything at all? What would happen if you stopped?

Because at 9 p.m., the treats still come.