The Inertia of Comfort

The biggest obstacle to change in our lives is ourselves. Our blind spots, biases, and second-guesses keep us anchored to our past - limiting all but the most modest change unless the universe hoists a weight upon us we cannot possibly bear without adjusting our stance.

The diabetes diagnosis that compels us to modify our diet. The sudden loss of a job that sends us back to finish our degree. The loved one passing that impels us to call our friends more often. 

We’d like to believe that we are rational beings who readily assimilate feedback, adjust effortlessly, and drift upwards towards our idealized self. A limitless drive to improve fueled by an eternal wellspring of proactivity. Uh no.

Charting a bold course, raising the sails, and vanquishing the storm with unwavering discipline does happen for some - it’s not the norm. Most of us are not lucky enough to be one of these blessed outliers. We mere mortals arrive at change kicking and screaming, and we bring this tendency, the inertia of comfort, to work.

So what do we do without an impending storm to rally a crew? Worse, what if you’re the only one who hears the distant thunder? If the waters seem placid now, can you get the oars in the water, with deep strokes, as one? And when it hits, in the face of the gale, can you hold fast?

Most product teams create a bold vision but deliver an incremental plan. A chess game thought not 1 move ahead, but zero. A few customers complain and a new feature request magically rises in the queue. Or something breaks, and the team snaps to attention with a fix on demand - but what about our envisioned future?  What happened to that? The next release we tell ourselves - the next release.

A big vision is risky - some people won’t like it. Heck. It might be wrong. You might fail, and who are you to dream big anyway? Better to keep your head down and do the job expected of you. After all, you can’t get fired for doing what’s expected, right? Right?

If you work on a product team, just for a moment, embrace the idea that you can indeed dare towards bold future - you are enough, and if not you, then who? And if you need a little encouragement, there is always Tom Petty.

“The future was wide open.” - Tom Petty