Overwhelmed by change? Here's how you start
Overwhelmed by change? Here's how you start
PLUS: What Your Purpose In Life Should Be (In 47 Seconds)
July 26, 2026
“Consider everything an experiment.”
\- Corita Kent
Change is tough and it starts with not fooling yourself. Only then can the work begin.
That’s what I wrote two weeks ago, and it clearly resonated, as since then I’ve been asked variations of a core question: “OK, but where do I start?”
A large part of that is driven by the paralysis of choice. That sense of overwhelm that greets you when you stand on the start line of change.
I couldn’t leave you hanging, so this week is all about how you get unstuck and go exploring…
THE SCIENCE
Karl Friston is a neuroscientist at University College London known for a theory called active inference, developed to explain how the brain deals with uncertainty.
His research shows the brain has two ways to close the gap between what it expects and what's real: update its internal model, or act to bring in information the model doesn't have yet.
Thinking only does the first. It analyses data that's already in your head. Nothing new comes in.
Acting does the second. Testing the hypothesis against something outside your own head is the stronger route that brings back information reflection alone rarely produces.
Forget the idea that you just need more thinking to get unstuck. The evidence says the opposite. Doing makes the difference.
That is what will stop you conjuring up hypothesis after hypothesis and instead get you gathering new data based on your contact with reality.
THE PROOF
Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had no plan to build a global travel company. In 2007, they couldn't make rent in San Francisco. A design conference was coming to town and every hotel was booked, so they bought three air mattresses and put up a basic website offering a place to sleep and breakfast for $80 a night. Three strangers showed up and paid.
That single weekend produced something years of planning couldn't have: real information from real paying customers. What people actually wanted, what worked, and what to build next. Airbnb emerged out of that one test, not a five-year strategy drawn up in advance.
I come back to this particular story time and time again, primarily as a reminder to myself. On my journey with PPL I’ve had an ongoing battle with procrastination masquerading as perfectionism. Whenever I catch myself slipping into that trap, I go and look at Airbnb’s original logo.
It’s just about getting started.
THE APPLICATION
Most people treat change like it's New Year's Day, and we all know how those resolutions tend to end. Trying to go from 0-100 and maintain that perfectly and permanently flies in the face of all the evidence we have about sustainable change.
We could all learn something from scientists here. An experiment isn't designed to be right the first time. It's designed to produce data, whatever the result. It's the insights from that data that help you move forward.
So pick the one thing you believe will actually move the needle, and commit to it for long enough to get meaningful insights from the data you’re gathering. Assess it. Based on that, work out your next move.
Consistency is key. That's what forges new neural pathways and makes the new behaviour easier over time.
I use a driving metaphor a lot with clients, particularly the high achievers who are unduly hard on themselves. If you take a wrong turn and drive 15 minutes in the wrong direction, I ask them what they'd do next. Every one of them says the same thing: go back to where you took the wrong turn, get back on the road, and keep heading the right way. Nobody says drive all the way home and give up on the journey.
Then I point out that's exactly what they've done in the past when a change attempt goes sideways. The lightbulb usually goes on right there. Consistency was never about rigidity. It's about staying adaptable enough to keep course correcting.
Do that and change moves from elusive to inevitable. Just stay in the driving seat.
Go well.
J
🔥 LIVE BETTER, LEAD BETTER
The best content I researched this week:
1. No better time to read the 10 daily activities that neuroscience links to reduced rumination.
2. Investor and podcaster Chris Senra reveals the 14 patterns behind the world’s greatest minds.
3. Finally, 47 seconds of wisdom from Mastery author Robert Greene on what your purpose in life should be.
Share this with a fellow leader - we’re stronger together.
If this was forwarded to you, join hundreds of other top-level executives and entrepreneurs by subscribing here.
The Prime Performance Program
