Sometimes I notice something strange in the way we work and think.

I’m not sure if it happens to everyone, but occasionally we fall into what I can only describe as a loop of stupidity. Not because people are stupid, but because the process becomes stupid.

It usually starts with discussion. Discussion is good. It helps refine ideas. It brings different perspectives.

But after a point, discussion quietly turns into a habit.

And habits are dangerous when we stop questioning them.

We begin discussing everything. Even things that don’t require discussion. Small decisions that could be made in seconds start taking hours. Not because they’re difficult, but because we’ve trained ourselves to keep talking about them.

Sometimes the answer is already obvious.

Sometimes the work is already clear.

But we keep discussing anyway.

At some point it stops being about solving the problem. It becomes about staying inside the conversation.

When that happens, something else starts to shrink: our thinking.

We slowly put ourselves inside a small box. Inside that box, every problem feels complicated. Every decision feels like it needs more analysis.

And because we stay inside that box, we forget that stepping outside it is even an option.

The strange thing is that progress often doesn’t require more discussion.

Sometimes it just requires someone to stop the loop, make the decision, and move forward.