Pilots have a concept called 'get-there-itis' — the subtle cognitive pull toward the destination that causes otherwise careful aviators to push through deteriorating conditions because they're already committed to arriving. Psychologists call the same force escalation of commitment, but the cockpit name is more honest about what it feels like from the inside. The same trap shows up in fitness and clinic management: you keep doing the 45-minute workout that's eating your schedule because you started it, or you hold onto a staff routine that sort of worked two years ago because abandoning it feels like failure. Barry Staw's research on sunk-cost entrenchment in the 1970s showed that the more people had personally invested in a decision, the worse their subsequent choices became — not despite caring, but because of it. The practical antidote isn't willpower; it's what good instrument pilots are trained to do: periodically ask 'if I were starting this flight right now, with current conditions, would I still launch?' Apply that same cold-start question to your current workout structure or a standing office process today.

What did you actually do this week on autopilot — a workout, a clinic routine, a habit — that you haven't consciously chosen in months?

Drawing from Behavioral decision theory / Aviation human factors — Barry Staw