Homeostasis: Why Change Is Such A Challenge

In biology, homeostasis is the tendency of any living system to maintain steady internal conditions. This is the condition which allows the organism to function, including variables from body temperature and fluid balance, to blood sugar level and the acidity of extracellular fluid. Each of these is regulated to maintain life despite changes to the environment, diet, or activity level.

The word homeostasis comes from Greek homeo- and -stasis, or “similar” and “standing still”. Put them together, and you get the idea of “staying the same.” This is crucial to understanding homeostasis as a mental model: it keeps you and I from change. Everybody has once made grand plans for change only to revert to their old processes. That is your mind and body maintaining homeostasis, or, resisting change. Every one of us resists change, no matter whether it is for the worse or for the better.

Every self-regulating system operates under homeostatic conditions. From amoeba and your salivating bulldog, to your family and gigantic corporations like Meta Platforms. The simplest example is the thermostat in your home. It senses the temperature of the room. When it drops below the set level on a colder winter day, the thermostat switches the heater on to bring it back up. Then, when the desired temperature is reached, the thermostat tells the heater to turn off and awaits the next time something is out of balance, completing the loop.

Homeostasis is the rule when it comes to systems. It is a law of nature: to keep things in equilibrium. When something is out of balance, the brain and body try to attain that balance again. Hunger cues and intense cravings are a great example of this. But it applies to psychological constructs as well. Feelings of emptiness and loneliness from insufficient social interaction are there to push us to find some friends. This is all and well. The only problem with homeostasis is it does not rely on a value hierarchy, it just aims for whatever is considered “stable”. You and I might consider “stable” to be daily physical exercise and healthy nutrition. For another, “stable” can mean doing hard drugs and smoking.

Homeostasis is simply a force we must work with. It is not all-powerful. We can exert will and fight against it. Though it is not always easy. It is wise to expect backlash and resistance when we try to change. It does not mean we are sick or crazy or lazy, it just means our minds and bodies are doing what they are supposed to: maintaining a balance. In fact, we should take resistance as a sign of doing something right. It would not be there if we were not challenging our systems towards change. Next to the internal pull, we’ll see it in our friends and families. Also normal, as homeostasis applies to groups of people as it does to individuals. Expect resistance.

Negotiate and navigate resistance thereafter. Any system you are trying to change will hit back. It can be your team’s practices, your family dinners or holiday traditions, or your exercise habits. Feel into the resistance and remind yourself that it is the natural propensity to maintain homeostasis. Stay alert. Be prepared to bring out the heavy artillery: willpower and self-regulation. This is especially true if you are doing something that is considered abnormal in your group.

Homeostasis is widely applicable. Even among technologies, it has seen application in: thermostats, the smart temperature sensing devices that turn on or off heating units in response to temperature shifts; cruise control in cars to adjust throttle based on speed; autopilot for the easier steering of aircrafts. Abundant in society and culture, as seen in thousand-year-old religious practices and traditions, as well as old and outdated government legislations.

Real life implications of homeostasis:

• Human: the body automatically maintains a temperature, activating sweating when you overheat and shivers when you cool down; you can infer homeostasis to assess whether you should actually be hungry, whether you are tired, whether you are recovered and ready for another bout of exercise;

• Relationships: relationships benefit from a reciprocal “give-and-take” harmony in both intrinsic and extrinsic elements, so aim to balance out not only the family’s finances but conflicts and agreements;

• Habit: reforming habits will push you into a state of resistance, and if you can anticipate it and plan for it you put yourself at better odds for successful change;

• Organization: try to balance innovation and stability in your company, as you don’t want to put out products the market is not ready for, and you do not want so much structure that you do not produce anything new;

• Education: overloading your students will worsen their performance and information recall; instead, space out their learning to manage cognitive load;

• Creativity: too much structure stifles creativity, whilst too much innovation results in chaos, so aim for experimentation within set boundaries adhering to the homeostatic principle.

How you might apply homeostasis as a mental model: (1) assess your baseline, what your “normal” looks like in relationships, habits, performance, productivity, and so on; (2) evaluate how your and others’ actions affect your balance and take note of disruptors—positive and negative ones; (3) introduce incremental changes and expect the system to resist until a new, better equilibrium is established; (4) based on the disruptors you identify, mitigate the potential negatives before they occur and dive deeper into the positives; (5) recalibrate your processes as needed, always mindful that systems resist change.

Thought-provoking insights. “Balance is not something you find; it’s something you create.” emphasizes the active role you have in finding and maintaining stability. “The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” is the essence of the homeostatic principle itself. “Stability is not immobility; it is dynamic equilibrium.” highlights that balance is a mix of effort and flexibility. Homeostasis maintains a balance. Choose where your balance is.

Questions to reflect on:

1. In what ways do feedback loops stabilize your systems during periods of change or external pressure?

2. In what situations in your life can overcompensating or underreacting disrupt the natural balance?

3. What signs indicate a need for recalibration in your strategy, and how do you address these signals?

4. How does maintaining balance in work-life dynamics contribute to your productivity?

5. What benefit might integrating regular evaluations to your creative or operational processes bring?

Quotes that depict homeostasis:

1. "Balance is not something you find, it's something you create." - Unknown author.

2. "Homeostasis is the art of staying balanced in a shifting environment." - Unknown author.

3. "In both nature and business, equilibrium is the cornerstone of sustained success." - Unknown author.

Example use cases:

1. Project: regular check-ins and performance reviews ensure that workload, deadlines, and creative freedom stay in balance.

2. Business operations: designing processes that adjust to fluctuations in demand or market conditions act like a thermostat for not wasting undue physical or mental material.

3. Creative strategy: a balance of experimentation with established methods leaves room for innovation while maintaining standards that ensure quality.

4. Team: establishing a feedback system where teammates can voice concerns or suggest adjustments helps keep group productivity and morale at optimal levels.