Want Change? Choose Action, Not Reflection

As a trained scientist, I engage in a lot of cause and effect thinking. Once we identify a cause, we can fix things. Right?

Maybe.

Some of you know that my grandmother recently learned she has cancer. After several scans, three biopsies and many, many doctor’s appointments, we found out her cancer is of “unknown origin.” That means no one knows where it started. And there’s no clear course of treatment and no clear prognosis.

For an insight junkie like me, this is hard to accept.

But this situation has also caused me to think that the search for causes sometimes keeps us from solving our problems. We get bogged down exploring why things happen. We ask:

• Why is my best friend so distant?
• Why do I feel tired?
• Why can’t I lose weight?
• What happened to my sex drive?
• Why can’t I stick to a plan? Finish what I started?
• Why didn’t the boss promote me?
• Why can’t I get out of Target for less than $100?

The number of answers to each of these questions is dizzying. Take just the first question. Consider these answers:

• I might be tired because I am not getting adequate (or restful) sleep.
• I might be tired because I have a thyroid problem.
• I might be tired because I am anemic.
• I might be tired because I am overweight.
• I might be tired because my medications cause drowsiness.
• I might be tired because I have two kids under the age of 5.
• I might be tired because I’m eating too many carbs.
• I might be tired because I’m not getting enough exercise.
• I might be tired because I feel unhappy with my current work. Or my social life. Or both.
• I might be tired because I am doing too much. Or because I’m not busy enough.
• I might be tired because I don’t get enough sunlight. Or because my room isn’t dark enough.
• I might be tired because my partner snores. Loudly.

All of these could be true. Simultaneously. And many are interrelated. The likely result?

Paralysis by analysis.

The good news is this. If we stop obsessing about finding “the cause” of a problem and spend our energy taking baby steps in the right direction, the whole system changes. Want more energy?

Walk outside for 15 minutes. Eat salad for lunch. Go to bed a half hour earlier. Install room-darkening shades.

These actions are productive. They are healthy. And they have a cumulative positive effect. Each tiny tweak makes you more likely to engage in other healthy behavior. This same strategy works with all the problems I posed above and many more.

Bottom line: Asking what’s wrong isn’t necessarily the best way to get better. Sometimes the answer is to act better now and let insight come later.