The Problem

Imagine a horse, a strong, well built horse, tied to a plastic chair. This horse, no matter how much you beckon it to come to you, it wont move, simply because it is tied to the chair. The plastic chair is not anchored to the ground.

I define a cognitive impasse as when someone who doesn’t proceed, not because of a physical barrier, but because they cant figure out how best to proceed, even when the effort (energy expenditure) and barrier to overcome are both low. Essentially because there is an obstacle, irrespective of its difficulty, is why the person would give up. They fail to improvise around the problem, so they shutdown.

If we were to put this into a formula, it would look something like this:

Reward + Low Risk + Low Energy Output – Obstacle = Inaction and missing out on opportunities

The key is, is that there is a reward or a greater reward in the sequence of steps that need to be done.

The Depth:

"The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake." - Meister Eckhart

What is the cost associated with Cognitive Impasse? Lost opportunities, shame, and loss of confidence.

The Cognitive impasse that someone encounters as a problem and then shuts down, usually without realizing the barrier for overcoming the obstacle is relatively low. What this does on an individual basis, is that it can “stunt” “growth”… If the path of least resistance is always to do nothing, then the person will slip into a habit of a “bias for inaction”, unbeknownst to them. On the surface it may look like laziness, but its a self conditioning to not challenge oneself that compounds and exponentially makes it more difficult to overcome difficulties.

On a team level though, it can throw the momentum of a team off and even derail projects. If a person on a team views everything as insurmountable because it requires additional energy, even if minimal, then it eventually becomes impossible to work with them. They become the incessant pessimist without realizing it.

In an organization, it will create gaps in productivity, where people will get into the habit of “punting”, which is differing a task to someone else because they can, not because the initial person is incapable. This causes things to take longer to get done, creates a culture of “divided knowledge” and ultimately costs more.

So despite the energy required to overcome a perceived obstacle is relatively low, because there is a perceived obstacle, the person would just stop and/or bail. Despite there being a reward that outweighs the effort needed to get it, simply because there is an obstacle, because there is effort involved… they don't undertake the challenge. They freeze. They Stop, and even eventually bail.

How does “Cognitive Impasse” differ from “Cognitive dissonance”?

In short, cognitive dissonance is when the brain is presented with information that contradicts deeply held beliefs, and causes the person to have a negative reaction, especially when the new information is objectively true, thus canceling out that deeply held belief. A simple example would be: wanting to lose weight, but eating fast food and not exercising.

This, Cognitive Dissonance, is clearly different from “Cognitive Impasse”, in that its not about the contradiction of held beliefs with new information and needing to change behavior, but rather is an understanding of a benefit, but not taking action, because there is an obstacle, irrespective of the amount of energy to overcome the obstacle, which is usually minimal.

You see this with Developers, doing shoddy work, when understanding that if they do well, they get more. Mechanics, doing shoddy work, hoping to get quick money, eschewing a potential long term relationship. People in general typically don’t have a long “time horizon” when it comes to making decisions, and this is usually related to a compounding effect of constant “path of least resistance” due to cognitive impasse.

In my observation and experience, I often see this with people who:

Are used to doing the bare minimum

overestimate their skills (in a Dunning Kruger form)

“One Track minds” (people who are incapable of holding more than one idea in their mind at the same time; Binary thinkers)

“Path of least resistance”

Short time horizon (The think of the immediate, the now, instead of the long term)

So why is it not just laziness? Don't lazy people do this anyway? Kind of, but no. Its not simply just laziness in that otherwise, the person is willing to do work, so long as there is little to no “friction”. The issue is the obstacle, not the overall task.

What is laziness? Laziness is defined as:

la·zi·ness /ˈlāzēnəs/ noun: laziness

The quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness. Ex "it was sheer laziness on my part"

Laziness is not wanting to do something for various reasons… but the difference from laziness versus cognitive impasse is that there is an understanding that there is a reward on the other end, but because of the obstacle(s), they resort to inaction despite wanting to and even needing to proceed. Lazy people may not be aware, and oftentimes may not even care. While laziness could be a component, it is certainly not the whole story.

It can present itself in a number of ways:

Weighing the energy expenditure versus the potential reward and time and not doing it.

Not writing a short letter that would gain you admittance into a new role at work.

Not walking to the bank, from work to get quarters for laundry, instead taking an uber home.

Not calling someone, because someone told you, although the other you need to call can _ potentially help you with your business.

Not filling in an application to be apart of a claim pool

Not taking the time to write out the answers that were filled in an online form for “posterity”

The Solution:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, [and] die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” - Robert Heinlein

How does one become aware of their cognitive impasse? How do we overcome this?

So the issue is:

In American society, people often resort to the path of least resistance or the “easy route”. There is a heavy campaign for oversimplication of everything, where nuance is ignored and everything is decontextualized. The side effect of this is that not only do people find it hard to think deeply about things, but also that they are lured into always wanting things to be easy, and any bit of “friction”, causes them to bail. This is the conditioning to do the very least, the bare minimum, and always expecting the most, lays a foundation for cognitive impasse to occur in every instance where a degree more of complexity is involved.

By admitting, even though you might not be able to see it in totality, understanding the negative impact it is having on your growth and progress. This will allow you to “work from there” and essentially see yourself from the “outside”. Its the acknowledgment, which is not easy.

The first step to fixing anything is to admit that there is a problem and that you are susceptible to it. Be intellectually honest with yourself: “Am I encountering an obstacle that can be overcome, but I'm not because its an obstacle?”.

Being aware of your “Cognitive impasse” can be liberating, especially if done in real time. But it takes practice. Its a muscle that has to be flexed each time we experience an “extra step” when trying to accomplish something.

Write down the issue. No progress can be had without writing things down. This is the first step to “meeting yourself” (as in most people don’t know who they are), writing it out so that you can observe it. Understand, the Key to being an adult is to do things that you may not want to do, and sometimes you may not have to do it, but you understand the value in getting it done, so you get it done. This is a very valuable practice and like all other muscles, must be exercised. Push through it.

The more you push through them, it helps “fix” your neuroplasticity, creating the cross connections necessary to overcome other obstacles a lot easier as times goes on and you successively encounter new challenges.

What happens eventually is this:

Despite the energy required to overcome a perceived obstacle being relatively low, but because there is a perceived obstacle, you would normally just stop and/or bail, but because of the reward, short term and long term, you push through. It becomes easier each time. Once identified, it is easily to recognize in all sorts of situations.

By Corey F Stedman