Read time: 5 minutes.

At a glance:

• Quote:

• Picture

• What I’ve Learned

• Business Idea

What I Learned:

There’s this British guy. 

Total stereotype. 

He wakes up at the same time, goes through the same motions, eats the same breakfast, and leaves his house precisely at 6:03 to catch the same metro on the same commute.

But one day, it all goes to h***.

The London Tube workers go on strike.

Some stations are out of service, and everyone’s morning commute is impacted.  

Including this bloke.

It throws him into a tailspin:  Will he be late?!  How long of a walk is it?  Does he need better walking shoes?!  SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!

But something happens—

He finds that his new commute is more efficient than his previous one

He also comes to find that he enjoys it. 

There’s a coffee shop he never noticed. He enjoys a delicacy he never would have tried. He doesn’t have to cross the same busy crosswalk that almost killed him years ago.

He was forced into this change, and even when the Tube reopens, he keeps his new habit; a serendipitous change for the better.

But here’s what’s even more interesting-

A group surveyed thousands of UK commuters impacted by this very strike. 

And what they found was interesting—while most resumed their old habits, a few permanently changed their old commute for what they saw was a better one.   

They reported a more enjoyable, efficient, and improved commute post-change.      

What was an abrupt change became a blessing in disguise.

But what was interesting to me wasn’t those that changed or didn’t change; it was that for the minority that made a permanent change for the better—they had no idea of where their current route could have been optimized prior to the disruption.

This story captivates me for three reasons:

1. We build the majority of our habits for a reason.  Most didn’t change their original commute once the stations resumed.   Many changes in life won’t be better than our tried and true.   90% of the time, ordering something else off the menu at your favorite restaurant will likely be worse than your favorite.  

2. A minority of forced changes are blessings in disguise.   10% of the time, we will find a new favorite food, drink, route, app, or gift that we never would have seen if it weren’t for a perceived inconvenience at the time.

3. We have to remember we have no idea what our 10% is.    And every time something comes up, we’ll complain and gripe and cause ourselves with 100% unneeded anxiety.   We never consider that this could be our 10% better moment.

I work in an industry built on habit.   

If a doctor’s systems are “optimized”, a practice could repeat the same day for 40 years straight and be perfectly happy.

And the reality is that most changes they hear about probably won’t work.

There’s a reason they’re our habits and systems in the first place – they work.  

However one of the hardest things to convey to practices is the same lesson here:

“Rare does a practice know exactly where, what, and how they could get slightly better with an unwanted disruption.”

And sometimes, it’s the one that they’re sure is absolutely, positively sure are not it—that end up working out for the better.

Better waves make you a better surfer. You sure you’re on the right beach?