Hi, and welcome to Status No

Hello, I’m Henk - a recently exited founder, psychologist and investor. In Status No I write about why it’s hard to escape the status quo, and why it’s a journey worth embarking on.

Status No is free, delivered every Saturday and contains insights, observations and research on how to get unstuck and live more authentically.

Read on for more about this newsletter and why I’m writing it.

About Status No

I believe one of the worst ways to live is by default. To get swept along for the ride as a passenger that accepts the way things are as the way they should be. Our time is limited but our experience doesn’t have to be. I want to live true to my own ideals, even if it’s on the other side of the status quo.

But I’ve realised that any serious attempt to do this quickly faces the reality of our resistance to change. Decades of research (and simple observation) reveal our tendency to maintain the status quo, for better or worse. This may seem surprising in a world that constantly reminds us of how rapidly things change, and how we have more options than ever.

Yet, with infinite possibilities for change we find endless ways to stay stuck. We get trapped by our habits, mindlessly conform to social norms, rarely update outdated beliefs and make decisions based on the least-effort strategy of choosing the default. We like to claim “a change is as good as a holiday”, when really we like to stay home with “the devil we know”.

I first took notice of this bias a few years ago while analysing data on consumer purchases of everyday products. One finding was hard to explain. People preferred a brand they did not use, and despite it being affordable and available they remained loyal to the less-preferred brand they had used before. They simply stuck with the status quo, despite good reasons to change. I didn’t know it then but this started me on the journey to look more widely at where else this effect may be hiding.

What I’ve come to realise is that this impulse wasn’t limited to our habit of purchasing the same toothpaste brand, but that it directs us in ways that really matter. Consider these examples:

When it comes to our health decisions research on habits has uncovered how our routines influence a range of factors from medication adherence, dietary consumption, and physical exercise. When we rely on medical experts to provide a second opinion they disproportionally stick to the advice of the prior expert (the status quo). Worryingly, when there is no prior opinion to rely on they make a different judgment.
In the area of finance, the status quo effects everything from our savings for retirement, to our willingness to accept higher fees for services with no additional benefits.
In romantic relationships there is evidence that when we choose a future partner, we are biased to prefer partners with the same traits as our past companions. Or as the researchers of that paper put it: “when it comes to matters of the heart, we tend to love what we currently have.”
Our attitude toward contentious topics can be influenced by a status quo. When describing torture as a longstanding interrogation practice, people are more willing to support it. And research on social influence confirms that we tend to imitate as much as we create our mental world.

As I spent more time thinking about it, I became aware of my own default biases. In some important areas I was simply following the well-trodden path for no good reason. So, I decided to create this project - to ask why do we get stuck and what can we do about it?

Why subscribe?

Here is why I am writing about this, and why I think you should read it:

Existing writing on the subject normally deals with particular instances of the status quo traps. Popular books often address individual biases like habits, social conformity, or choice biases, but mastering one bias alone leaves us vulnerable to others. My goal is to cover the variety of traps in a more comprehensive way.
These effects often operate unconsciously, making them hard to identify. Through this newsletter, I strive to increase awareness and provide insights that help you navigate and challenge these unconscious biases effectively.
Our reliance on defaults is pervasive. De-biasing ourselves can improve our outcomes in a wide range of outcomes. An improvement in even one area can hugely impact our well-being, with outcomes such as our health, finances and relationships at stake.
Beyond singular improvements I believe freeing ourselves from autopilot choices is identity forming. Living authentically means shedding the parts of ourselves we passively adopted to start actively discovering who we are.

If this resonates with you, you’re in the right place.

What to expect

Status No is free and delivered every Saturday. Every week I share insights, observations and research related to:

The psychological traps that keep us confined to the status quo.
Examples of these effects in domains such as our health, finances, relationships, public policy, business and more.
Advice and case studies on challenging our biases and escaping our defaults.
Recommendations on books in related areas.
A reader Q&A where I answer your questions.

My primary focus is on our functioning as individuals but I also venture into applications in business and beyond.

The book

The accompanying project I’m working on is a book on this same subject. While they cover the same ground, the content isn’t identical. This newsletter allows me some freedom to test new ideas, cover tangential topics and deliver some more unrefined ideas while working on the publication of the book.

In time I’ll post extracts directly from the book exclusively to readers of the newsletter.

About me

My short social bio reads: I am an exited founder, psychologist and investor.

The slightly longer version:

I became a start-up founder in my early 20s, successfully building a digital market research firm (Columinate) to the point of acquisition 10 years later.

After I stepped away in January 2023 I started focusing on my other interests: writing and investing.

My writing about the status quo is from my perspective as entrepreneur and my academic background as a Psychology PhD.

As an investor I’m open to a select number of investment and advisory projects with start-ups that I find interesting and meaningful.

I’m also a proud dad to two daughters, and husband to Elna, my cofounder in Columinate (there’s a book there to be written about startup life as a couple). A few years ago I competed in the World Games in indoor rowing, a sport I only discovered a year before (an instance of default defiance I’m proud of).

You can contact me at [email protected], follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter.