No More Handbrake Turns
The mental model of changing health most people have is the handbrake turn.
The juice cleanse, the body transformation, the ‘no sugar’, the cold turkey.
Each of us has a natural inertia:
“a property by which we continue in our existing state of uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force”.
When we try and change our state, we tend to try and apply extraordinary force.
If you imagine a car traveling on a highway, we pull the handbrake as hard as we can in an attempt to course-correct.
The degree of difficulty is extreme. The failure rate is commensurately high.
Optimal course correction requires a less treacherous approach.
You read the sign for the exit. You move into the right lane. You shoulder check and indicate.
And then gradually, you slow down and veer into the exit lane.
The problem with this approach is that it feels slow and insufficient.
If you are desperately unhealthy, the slow merge and veer feels disproportionate to the scale of your problem.
That’s where proper timelines come in.
A 1 degree course correction now, maintained for a decade, will adjust your destination dramatically.
So when it feels slow, when it feels too easy, when it feels too close to your existing life — chances are, you’re doing it right.
Incremental progress. An average diversion of a few degrees. Consistent application for a decade.
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