Why People Keep Falling Off the Wagon

If you have ever tried to change how you eat, how you train, or how you take care of yourself, there is a moment that almost always shows up where it feels like you have stopped or fallen off.

In this episode, I look at that moment more closely.

Most people interpret it as a break in consistency, but it is often not a break at all. It is part of the pattern. The expectation that consistency should feel smooth, continuous, and controlled does not match how routines actually unfold in real life, where interruptions, shifts in structure, and changes in energy are normal.

Over time, the role of novelty becomes more apparent. What initially feels engaging and purposeful becomes familiar, and that familiarity is often misinterpreted as a loss of discipline or motivation, even though it is a natural transition into repetition.

From there, it becomes easy to assume that something has gone wrong, when in reality the experience has simply changed.

This episode explores why that shift happens, why willpower is often misidentified as the problem, and how routines are shaped not only by intention but also by environment and underlying biological signals.

When you look at the full pattern, consistency is not defined by the absence of disruption, but by what continues through it.

Key ideas from this episode:

• Why the feeling of “falling off” is often part of the pattern, not a break from it
• The difference between how consistency is expected to feel and how it actually shows up
• The role of novelty and why repetition feels different over time
• How boredom and changes in structure are often misinterpreted
• Why willpower is often incorrectly identified as the limiting factor
• The role of environment in supporting or disrupting routines
• The emerging understanding of how biological signals may influence patterns of behavior

••Why consistency includes disruption rather than avoiding it

Uncommonly Remarkable℠ is a health and wellness show focused on understanding how the body works and how everyday choices shape long-term health.

I’m Artis Beatty, a doctor of optometry and Chief Medical Officer at MyEyeDr. While my professional background informs how I think, the perspectives shared here are my own.

Transcript

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If you've ever tried to make a change to what you eat, how you train, or how you take care of yourself, there's a moment that inevitably shows up when it feels like you've stopped or fallen off. It may be a day or a few days where it feels like things are unstructured compared to how they were structured previously, or it could be a period of time where it doesn't feel the same as it did when you first started. However, it shows up, it is usually interpreted the same. You were doing it, and then you stopped, or you've fallen off. Most people view it that way. However, it's not a break in the pattern. Rather, the feeling of falling off is part of that pattern. There is an expectation that is embedded in how people view the concept of consistency. It is assumed to feel continuous, intentional, and controlled, like a smooth application of effort over a period of time where each day connects seamlessly to the next. This expectation makes sense because it's intuitive and easy to imagine. However, it does not reflect how a routine or a pattern actually feels or shows up in the world. A week may look structured on paper or on a calendar, however, it does not always feel that when you're living it because of all the interruptions that show up along the way. So while the expectation is smooth sailing, the reality is choppy, and when those two things don't line up, it's easy to assume that something is wrong. And so there's a next level that becomes more apparent over time, and this level is the concept of novelty. The initial period of the new routine has momentum because everything feels new. The structure makes sense, the effort seems worthwhile, and even small changes feel significant, creating the illusion of clarity where you know what you're doing, you know why you're doing it, and it seems like it's working even though nothing has changed. This too does not last, however, because anything done over time becomes familiar, and this familiarity will shift the entire experience. The structure becomes mundane, the actions automatic, and the effort insignificant, but instead of understanding this shift in the experience as familiarity, it's instead perceived as the loss of focus, the loss of discipline, or the loss of motivation. What's actually happening is the shift from novelty into repetition, and it's in this repetition where the most benefits actually take place. When the structure becomes unstable, the experience becomes unengaging. But when both shift, it's like something is falling apart, even though nothing has changed. This is the point where the person starts to wonder what they're doing, starts to look at it, and starts to look for reasons to make a change, even though this is all being done based on how it makes them feel instead of on what's actually happening. This also becomes the point where willpower often becomes part of the equation. If the routine no longer feels consistent or the effort no longer feels strong, then it is assumed that something internal has shifted, although this assumption is only valid if the assumption were correct in the first place. If consistency is expected to be smooth, then disruption feels like a lack of smoothness. If it is expected to be engaging, then boredom feels like a lack of engagement. And if it's expected to be continuous, then interruption feels like a reset even when the experience itself has not changed. This can be seen in practice when dealing with any routine. A routine becomes normal after a while, meaning it no longer feels new or interesting, and because it no longer feels interesting, it becomes difficult to use this as a method of determining whether or not it's succeeding. When something minor shifts, like a day being missed, or a schedule being altered, or a few days not lining up quite as well as the others, it doesn't feel like a minor variation, but rather like stepping off entirely. Not because the routine has disappeared, but because the experience no longer feels as it should. And while we're thinking about it, there is one other layer, one that's not often considered, and that's environment. A routine is typically considered to be something internal, but most routines are externally supported by time, location, and sequence. And when all of this is consistent, it feels easier to complete the routine. But when it shifts, even when no intention has shifted, it feels like it becomes significantly harder to complete. The routine is not just what you're doing, but where you're doing it. And when all of this shifts, it feels like the routine is breaking down even when it's not, because the intention is still present, but it's not being met by the environment. And recently, there is also interest in the idea that not all of these patterns are purely behavioral in nature. Medications such as Ozimpic and Wagovy are also now being looked at not only for their impact on hunger, but also for their impact on craving and on patterns of behavior. And people are reporting reductions in these urges not only when it comes to food, but also when it comes to patterns of behavior as well. This is obviously an area of ongoing research, but it is also an indication of the way in which the urge to repeat or to get away from something is not always within the realm of conscious control. Maybe it's because of the impact of biological, neurological, and environmental signals as to how easy or difficult something is to stick to or to get through. If something is not working or a routine is falling apart, then it's not necessarily accurate to look at this as something that is purely within the realm of willpower because of other factors at play in this moment as well. So if you step back and look at the entire pattern of behavior, then you can see a much more defined sense of structure at play. Consistency is not simply defined as the lack of disruption, it is also defined as uneven days, shifting structures, and moments where the behavior is not as engaging. And these are not disruptions from the pattern, but are actually the pattern itself. But when these moments are defined as such and as a way of looking at something as having stopped working or as having been reset, then there is a sense of needing to go back and start everything over again. And when everything is started over again, then nothing ever truly gets a chance to be settled. Over time, this gives the impression that it's hard to maintain consistency, but really it's just hard to maintain the interpretation that allows it to continue. The truth of the matter is that most people aren't struggling with staying with something. They're struggling with the interpretation that a change in their routine means that they've stopped, that a lack of novelty means that they've lost momentum, or that an uneven week means they've lost consistency, and that each of these things being interpreted as a reset means that the pattern never really gets a fair chance to establish itself. The problem with consistency in practice is that it's not quite as clean as people think it is. It's not quite as clean as a straight line, as a constant application of will and desire, or as a steady progression towards a goal. Instead, it's more like something that just keeps going even when everything else changes. And once you see it like that, it's really hard to look at the moments that felt like falling off as anything other than what they really are, the pattern itself. This is uncommonly remarkable. Thanks for listening.