The Cursed Stickiness of the Status Quo

Want to know one of the biggest threats to a successful launch of your quantum leap?

It’s your status quo—your present way of operating—those behaviors and beliefs that are so well established, so habitual, so ingrained.

Shaking loose from your status quo can be wickedly difficult. And there’s the problem.

Quantum leaps almost always require an abrupt shift away from your current modus operandi. Why? Because you’re seeking a very different outcome than you’re getting now. Uncommon success calls for an uncommon approach. Don’t expect your conventional way of operating to produce a rapid and dramatic change in results.

Even trying harder—simply relying on a heavier dose of what you’ve been doing— usually produces only incremental gains rather than a quantum leap breakthrough. “More of the same” is a bad gamble. The odds are far better if you try differently, maybe even easier!

The Status Quo Bias

It’s counterintuitive, though, to ditch your most practiced and familiar moves in pursuit of a new, extremely challenging goal. It seems impractical, more risky, even crazy. Sticking with your status quo approach feels safer and more sensible.

That’s your cognitive bias, your preference for the current way of doing things.

Let’s look at three reasons why the status quo is so sticky:

1. We humans have a peculiar but natural aversion to loss. When faced with the need to change our modus operandi, we focus more on what we stand to lose rather than how we might benefit. In fact, we weigh losses (whether real or imagined) twice as heavily as gains! It’s an irrational and lopsided comparison that makes us cling to our status quo approach in pursuing a quantum leap.
2. You’re accustomed to your present way of operating. It’s your comfort zone. It gives you a sense of security. “Trying differently” means leaving the status quo and venturing into the unknown where you must deal with ambiguity and take new risks. That causes uncertainty, which creates doubt, anxiety, and fear. The status quo is psychologically more appealing.
3. It takes initiative, effort, and guts to chase some big ambition. Naturally, inertia resists that kind of investment, and inertia has enormous power over your behavior and decisions. Even if you’re dissatisfied with your present situation, inertia may cause you to stick with the status quo.

The Secret to Accelerated Liftoff

Don’t try to sneak up on the status quo by just tweaking your present way of operating. Attack with a direct, full-force frontal assault—adopt a truly different game plan. Think big, aim for the fences, and put your heart into it!

The longer you allow yourself to remain stuck in a position that doesn’t seriously challenge you, the less likely you’ll be able to leave it.