The Tragedy of the Forward-Progress Bias
What we miss when we think we know what progress looks like
Especially when we’re wrapped up in the pursuit of a goal, we tend to see anything that’s not clearly forward progress as a setback. In other words: We think If we’re not gaining ground, we’re losing it.
As a result, we can end up making risky moves in an attempt to try to move things forward. But we may end up only wasting our energy, and not even gaining ground — or even worse — losing it.
That’s where a shift in mindset can help. If we scale back our obsession with constant forward movement, we can do much better over the long run. We just have to realize that sometimes the best available moves are not forward — but sideways — or maybe even backwards. Yes, sometimes we may even have to move slightly backward now in order to be able to move a longer distance forward later.
Pass It To the Side
It can help to take a cue from American football, and consider the merits of what they call lateral moves.
The rules of football dictate that the ball cannot be thrown forward from one player to another beyond the line of scrimmage — which is the line from which the play began. So once a player begins running the ball past that line, it may seem…
