I’m thinking about habits because I’ve been off course for a few weeks in my work and I finally managed to get back on track. Ruts persist because feedback loops are powerful Habits are a feedback loop consisting of cue, routine, and reward (credit: Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit).
In my example, I kept finding it harder and harder to dedicate time to work I’d committed to. While optimism carried me forward early on, I lost steam as the day-to-day metrics appeared to worsen over time. I’d roll up my sleeves, look at the metrics, become discouraged, and find a distraction with a shorter and more certain feedback loop.
Finally, I committed to breaking free from the negative cycle. I started by zooming in, analyzing a single segment of our work, and finding that the metrics looked surprisingly good. There’s a core effort that was, in fact, working. Then I zoomed out, changing the period of analysis, and found even more encouraging news. Daily and weekly results were volatile, but monthly results were much more consistent. Our efforts were working when seen through different lenses. I broke my negative loop by checking my feedback for noise. I had been holding us back with too narrow a focus on a somewhat arbitrary measure.
Especially in entrepreneurship, there’s a fine balance between persistence and pragmatism. When to persist and when to call it quits? This week’s episode taught me that the question is premature if we can back up enough to see that we’re already succeeding.