#ThinkfullyHabit: Embrace the obstacle
If you are someone who avoids obstacles, or approaches what is unexpected with reluctance and resists change, you are not alone. We naturally gravitate towards the familiar, the comfortable and the known. The more experienced and skilled we become in something, the more competent we get; often staying within an increasingly well-known territory.
However, encountering an unexpected obstacle can force us to look again at a familiar situation. It can kickstart something new or give rise to a fresh idea - even when we may not have been looking for one.
“If such obstacles make us focus and think harder, they may end up not being obstacles at all but secret weapons.”
WHY?
Obstacles can slow us down, which makes us re-think and re-focus our attention. They essentially give us a jolt. Even if unpleasant and unwelcome, they may be the catalyst to a better way forward.
Take the example of the London commuters who literally had to find a new way when two trade unions went on a 48 hour strike in February 2014 and half of the network was shut down. At the time of the strike, bad weather deterred many from cycling or walking and people were forced to find alternative routes around the network. Economists seized the opportunity to look at people’s travel patterns across the system before and after the strike. They found that a significant number of people had been travelling day in, day out on sub-optimal routes around the network all along. It took the closure of half the network to force them to experiment with new journeys and realise there were better and more efficient routes. The strike was over in 48 hours, however, the impact on commuters’ behaviour lasted far longer.
An obstacle forces us to look up and try something new. It can give us a jolt out of our usual patterns when there is no other option but to experiment. It's what can lead us to unexpected outcomes or help produce something unique. When forced to deal with limitations, new pathways open up and new ideas come about – because they have to. This happens at a brain level as well, as new neural pathways are created new ideas are formed.
It raises the question of what happens if more of us are a little less avoidant of obstacles when they land in our path, a little more positive when it comes to overcoming them and a little bit more experimental as a result. Just like those London commuters, it may change our pathways for the better.
REFERENCES
The Benefits of Forced Experimentation: Striking Evidence from the London Underground Network. Shaun Larcom, Ferdinand Rauch, Tim Willems. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 132, Issue 4, November 2017, pages 2019–2055.