After five editions of Status No, and with a steady inflow of new subscribers this week (welcome!), I am getting to the overdue step of more thoroughly introducing the newsletter, the book and myself. Better late than never.

This edition contains the first part of the new “About” page on the website, which is now permanently available for current and future subscribers to get introduced to this project. I hope this provides some context around the broader aims of my writing and how each newsletter fits into the overall theme.

I’ve also turned on comments for subscribers to share ideas and suggestions on each post. Just follow the online version or visit the website. You can still reply to this email and send your thoughts directly.

Now that I’ve taken care of the necessary housekeeping, the next edition will bring back the regular format, offering you a fresh dose of ideas and inspiration to challenge the status quo.

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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 We get trapped by our habits, mindlessly conform to social norms, rarely update outdated beliefs and make decisions based on the least-effort strategy of choosing the default.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?

Thanks for reading,

Henk