It’s quite easy for us to rationalize not trying something new, not reaching out, expanding our experience and capabilities. It’s safer, we are less likely to fail, and we can usually get support from others for being steady.

At least that’s what we think.

Often we rationalize not operating outside of our comfort zone by arguing for persistence. Let’s not switch horses in the middle of a race, the cost of context switching, I don’t want to muddy the waters with all that’s going on . . . sound familiar?

But it is also often easy to constantly try new approaches instead of staying focused. Productivity porn, don’t get stuck in the old ways, everyone is doing it . . . the list goes on.

What’s happening here?

Persistence is valuable. So is determination, resolve, grit, and whatever else we can pull out of the old thesaurus. But the trite phrases about persistence are only valid when the persistence is intelligent. If someone was following a foolish course of action, only an enemy would encourage him or her to continue.

However, new skills and new approaches are just as valuable as persistence. You can’t learn without doing things in a new way, probably letting go of the old, and changing your behavior. But a constant stream of new shiny things can keep you from solving the problem.

And there lies the rub. It takes skill and practice to determine whether you should stay persistent or change your course.

How can you develop this skill – you need to be able to tell the difference between the two in order to be effective and successful.

Fortunately, with a little conscious awareness, we can develop this skill over time:

• When making decisions, be aware and ask yourself the if you’ve really considered the opposite decision. If you are “staying the course,” ask yourself if you’ve truly considered a new approach, and vice versa.
• Learn from making small bets. A friend of mine was fond of saying, “do a quick bad job” as an experiment, and see if you have any more clarity in your decision. Embrace failure (and make your bets small) because failure is the only way to learn.
• Track your decisions between persistence and change over time to see if you can see a trend. How many times have you switched a plan, software or an approach for a certain decision or area of operations. Does that feel like either foolish persistence or shiny object distraction?
• Make a list of the decisions about persistence or change that have gone well, and those that haven’t. Can you learn something from them?

You have many potential traps when figuring out whether a course of action is foolish or worthwhile – the sunk cost fallacy, the attraction of a shiny object, the demands of an ever-present ego, and the unknown unkowns. At least.

However, developing the skill of differentiating between foolish persistence and constant distraction is a huge payoff for a leader.