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The power of habits. One of the most important discoveries in leadership is that people rarely rise to the level of their intentions. More often, they fall to the level of their habits. Most people genuinely want success. They want healthy relationships, productive teams, thriving organizations, meaningful careers, and meaningful lives. They want to accomplish important goals, make a difference, and achieve outcomes they can be proud of. Yet wanting something and consistently moving toward it are two very different things. Between intention and achievement stands a powerful force that quietly shapes much of our behavior every single day. Habit. This is one of the reasons barriers can be so frustrating. We often assume the obstacle in front of us is the real problem when, in reality, the greater challenge may be the habits we bring to the obstacle. Two people can encounter the exact same barrier and produce entirely different outcomes. One immediately begins looking for solutions, while the other becomes discouraged. One sees possibility, while the other sees limitation. One pushes forward while the other bounces back. The barrier is identical, the response is not. Much of that difference is rooted in habit. As we continue building a barrier busting culture, it is important to recognize that habits influence far more than our daily routines. Habits influence how we think, how we react, how we solve problems, and how we respond when obstacles stand in our way. In many cases, habits determine whether we bust through or bounce. If we have developed habits that encourage ownership, perseverance, critical thinking, and problem solving, we are more likely to engage barriers productively. If we have developed habits that encourage avoidance, excuse making, dependence, or retreat, those habits will influence our response just as powerfully. The barrier itself may not determine the outcome, the habit often does. Habit loops. Our brains are designed for efficiency. For our brains, energy is life. Every decision requires that energy. Every new situation draws upon processing power. From a physiological perspective, the brain is constantly looking for ways to conserve energy and operate more efficiently. Whenever possible, it replaces conscious decision making with familiar routines. It develops shortcuts, it creates patterns. These take the form of habits. Habits are essentially low power, unconscious responses that help us accomplish routine tasks without thinking. That low power state is a life preserver for our brains. So as often as it can take advantage of a habit loop, it will. Without habits, life would be exhausting. Imagine having to consciously think through every step involved in tying your shoes, brushing your teeth, driving your car, or typing an email. Imagine having to relearn those actions every day. Even the simplest activities would consume enormous amounts of energy and attention. Habits free us from that burden. They allow us to function efficiently. They create familiar processes for repetitive activities. They make it possible for us to move through life without having to consciously think through every action we perform. In many ways, habits not only conserve energy and create familiar processes for repetitive things we do in life, but they make it possible for us to function and progress efficiently every day. The challenge is that habits do not distinguish between behaviors that help us and behaviors that hurt us. A habit is simply a familiar pattern. If the pattern produces positive results, the habit becomes an asset. If the pattern produces negative results, the habit becomes a liability. Either way, the brain continues relying on the habit loop because it saves energy. Apply this understanding to barrier busting. Some people have developed the habit of engaging barriers. When they encounter resistance, their minds immediately begin searching for options. They evaluate possibilities, gather information, ask questions, and move towards solutions. Others have developed very different habits. Challenge triggers frustration. Obstacles trigger retreat. Problems trigger dependence upon someone else to provide the answer. Over time, these responses become so familiar that they feel natural. The brain recognizes the pattern and locks in the loop. The individual is no longer consciously deciding how to respond. The habit loop is responding for them. Now imagine the loops that get built from the day-to-day routines of an office or the daily rhythms of a home. Over time, people become remarkably predictable, so much so that we can reliably anticipate how they will respond to specific situations. To some extent, personality profile systems capitalize on this and help us recognize recurring behavioral tendencies. If individual people are predictable, then entire organizations become predictable as well. Every team develops routines around barriers. Some organizations unintentionally train people to bring every problem to a supervisor. Others train people to arrive with possible solutions. Some cultures reward ownership, others reward avoidance. Some create environments where people instinctively engage challenges. Others create environments where people instinctively retreat from them. These are not policy-based initiatives, they are built on the power of habit. As those habits become embedded within the culture, they begin shaping how people think about barriers altogether. Employees learn what is expected. Teams learn what behaviors are rewarded. Leaders establish patterns through what they tolerate, reinforce, and model. Eventually, the habits become so ingrained that people follow them without much conscious thought. This is one reason cultural change is often difficult. Changing a culture requires changing habits. Habits that in some cases have become a staple of daily operations. Researchers have spent years studying why habits become so influential. One of the most important discoveries is that habits generally operate through a cycle involving a trigger, an action, and a reward. A trigger initiates behavior. The behavior follows a pattern of action. The pattern of action produces a reward. The cycle gets reinforced. As this cycle repeats, the brain becomes increasingly efficient at reproducing it. What might have begun as a conscious decision gradually becomes automatic. Think about leaving work at the end of the day. You look at the clock, gather your belongings, head to your car, and begin driving home. The trigger is the end of the workday. The action is your routine of leaving work and driving home. The reward is arriving home and enjoying the comfort and familiarity waiting there. Because that sequence has been repeated so many times, it requires very little conscious thought. If you have ever arrived home after work only to suddenly realize you forgot to stop at the store and get milk, you fell victim to the habit loop. If you've ever driven through town and recognized, you have no idea if the traffic lights you went through were red or green, you've been hit by the habit loop. The same thing happens when we encounter barriers. The obstacle becomes the trigger. Our response becomes the action. The outcome becomes the reward. If our habit is to retreat, we retreat. If our habit is to complain, we complain. If our habit is to seek someone else to solve the problem, we immediately look for help. If our habit is to engage the challenge, we begin looking for solutions. Whatever action has become familiar is likely to be repeated. This is why habits have such a significant impact on our ability to bust through barriers. They influence our response before we have even fully processed what is happening. They create default reactions that feel natural because they have been practiced repeatedly. One of the illustrations used in this session is an image of a car driving down a muddy road filled with deep. The longer vehicles travel the same path, the deeper the ruts become. Eventually, steering out of those ruts requires significant effort because the tires naturally want to fall back into the familiar pathway. The old route keeps pulling the vehicle back toward what it has always done. Human behavior works much the same way. The more often a habit is repeated, the deeper the ruts become. We even use that language to describe someone who cannot seem to overcome an old way of thinking. We say, wow, they really seem to be stuck in a rut. Over time, the routine feels normal. It feels comfortable. It feels easier than creating something new. This is why people often struggle to change behaviors even when they genuinely want different results. The challenge is not simply changing the outcome, the challenge is changing the pathway that produces the outcome. Many people attempt to create different results without addressing the habits producing their current results. They focus on the destination while ignoring the routine. Yet lasting change rarely occurs that way. If we want different outcomes, we must eventually examine the habits creating those outcomes. This is why meaningful growth always begins with awareness. Before a habit can be changed, it must first be recognized. We must identify the triggers that initiate the behavior. We must examine the actions that follow. We must understand the rewards that reinforce the routine. Only then can we begin creating something different. To break free from an old habit, we must confront every decision in the old routine. We must become aware of the automatic responses that have been shaping our behavior. Once those responses are identified, we gain the ability to replace them with better alternatives. The encouraging reality is that habits are not permanent. Just as habits are formed through repetition, they can be reshaped through repetition. New habits can be established, new pathways can be created, new responses can become natural. The same process that created the old habit can be used to establish a better one. This is particularly important when it comes to building a barrier, busting culture. If bouncing has become a habit, barrier busting can become a habit. If avoiding problems has become automatic, engaging problems can become automatic. If retreating has become routine, perseverance can become routine. The goal is not simply to solve individual barriers. The goal is to develop the habit of solving barriers. We want to develop a mindset that instinctively moves toward solutions. We want to naturally engage challenges rather than avoid them. We want to get to where perseverance becomes routine rather than exceptional. In other words, we want to build a barrier busting habit. It becomes what we do without even thinking about it. As you reflect on this concept, consider your own habits. Which routines are helping you overcome barriers? Which routines may be holding you back? Are there patterns of thinking or behavior that consistently appear whenever you encounter resistance? Are there responses that have become so familiar that you no longer even notice them? Success is rarely the result of a single breakthrough moment. More often, it is the cumulative result of habits repeated day after day, decision after decision, barrier after barrier. When those habits encourage avoidance, progress becomes increasingly difficult. When those habits support growth, progress becomes increasingly predictable.