Mental Resilience | Behavioral Flexibility

A client’s Wi‑Fi dropped mid audit, their electronic health record vendor stalled, and the plan for the day fell apart. Waiting would have wasted hours. Instead, I tethered a hotspot with my phone, narrowed the scope to offline checks, and used the downtime to interview staff about how they work when systems go down. When the network came back, we already had the most important findings.

This result came from one habit: behavioral flexibility.

When the environment changes, choose the next useful move and keep going. You cannot control the environment. But you can control your posture and attitude toward it.

What is behavioral flexibility?

Behavioral flexibility is the ability to recognize a situation, notice what the situation requires, select from more than one workable response, and switch when the current approach stops producing desired results.

You might notice it in life as calm shifts in strategy, beliefs that update when new facts arrive, and a willingness to change course without turning it into a personal issue. It is not improvisation for its own sake. It is adaptive action tied to purpose and constraints.

This matters because rigid plans and beliefs fail when conditions change. Flexible operators (people) reduce the time between input and response, reduce avoidable errors by exiting bad paths sooner, and experience less strain because they are not forcing one approach to work. They realize that work can be accomplished via many paths.

Using the OODA Loop

I realize that I touched on this is a previous newsletter already, but this concept has been so beneficial to me that I want to share it again. It was originally developed for fighter pilots to be able to make competent quick decisions when in stressful situations. But you can use it at your own pace as it works for your situations too.

In uncertain conditions, OODA provides a simple loop you can run quickly and repeatedly.

Observe. Take in the situation. Describe to yourself what is happening in plain terms. Note what changed, what remains stable, and which signals deserve attention. A single sentence is enough: “Power out, full schedule, staff anxious.”

Orient. Assess where you fit in the situation. Anchor to purpose, constraints, resources, and risk. Decide what the next hour is for and what you can bring to it.

Decide. Choose a minimum viable plan and write a clear switch trigger. For example, “If the system is not back by 11:30, we flip to paper documentation to keep moving.”

Act. Take the smallest effective step that creates visible progress. Feed the result back into Observe and loop again. One full loop can take a minute; in longer operations, you may loop every hour or as needed.

Making flexibility routine

Flexibility starts with noticing when your mindset has narrowed. The first cue is language. If you hear yourself using should and must, you are probably defending a plan rather than serving a goal. Another cue is how you react to contrary facts. If new information feels like a threat instead of a help, you are protecting an earlier decision (one you’ve already decided in your mind without all the facts). A third cue is repetition. If the conversation loops without producing a new step, you are stuck.

Shift your posture by restating the goal in one sentence and separating it from the method. Say what matters, then ask what conditions have changed, what remains the same, and what evidence would make you change your mind. Write that evidence down. When you see it, switch without ceremony. Treat the change as an update, not a verdict on the person who made the first call. The goal here isn’t to judge, but to analyze.

Make reversals safe for yourself by setting them up in advance. Add a line to important decisions that reads, “I will change course if X happens by Y time.” Timestamp it. When the trigger appears, switch. Keep a short decision log so you can see patterns over time. You will notice that earlier, smaller course corrections prevent later, larger disruptions.

Create the same climate for your team. Invite one concrete reason that would justify changing direction before you start. Ask someone to play the role of challenger for the meeting. Thank the person who provides information that improves the plan, even when it means changing your approach. Make sure ownership sits with the goal and not with the plan author, so changing plans does not feel like a loss of status.

Use small tests to reduce resistance. When you feel stuck, propose a short, reversible trial that answers the key uncertainty. A small result you can measure is better than another round of debate. The habit to build is not arguing more clearly, it is learning faster.

Watch for personal signals that you are getting rigid. Rising frustration, tighter tone, or the urge to restate your point are all early warnings (refer to Emotional Regulation). When you notice these warnings, pause and ask three questions.

1. What is the goal.

2. What has changed since I chose this path.

3. What would make a reasonable person switch now.

Then take the next useful step, even if it is not the one you expected to take.

Close with two sentences. “What I changed,” and “Why it was the right call.” This keeps attention on outcomes and trains the willingness to adjust. Over a week, you should see fewer stuck moments, faster corrections, and steadier progress under changing conditions.

Common traps and how to handle them

Analysis paralysis. This is a timing problem. The tell here is endless inputs with no action. Set a decision window that matches risk and write it down. If the choice is low stakes and reversible, decide within minutes. If it is high stakes but reversible, run a short test first, then decide. If it is high stakes and irreversible, slow the pace and add one independent check. Let the window, not the impulse to keep researching, determine when you move.

Sunk cost. This is a commitment problem. The language sounds like “we already invested too much to change.” Prevent it by writing exit criteria at the start (just like investing…but more on that for a later post). Specify the result and the time that will trigger a switch, and make it visible to the team. When the trigger hits, change course without relitigating the original decision. If it helps, keep a log of how much time these actions save.

Attachment to a plan. This is an identity problem. When the conversation turns into defending the plan, restate the goal in one sentence and separate it from the method. Call the current approach version one and invite an alternative that serves the same objective better. In meetings, if discussion is not producing decisions, say the goal aloud, set a time box for the remaining items, and change the decision format. Treat plans as tools. Use what works and replace what does not.

Binary thinking. This is a design problem. If the debate collapses to yes or no, broaden the option set or shrink the scope. Propose a small, reversible trial that answers the main uncertainty, such as ten scripts instead of a full rollout or one clinic day with a new intake form. Change one variable at a time so the result is readable. This reduces resistance and speeds learning because no one is locking into a large, risky move.

Overreacting to the last incident. This is a judgment problem. A vivid event can make an outlier look like a pattern. Before you change a process, check the actual baseline and review the objective data. Look for repeated events before you rewrite a standard. If immediate action is necessary, label it a temporary control and set a date to review with broader data (best to assign someone to this and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get lost and turn into process debt). This keeps you responsive without drifting from one anecdote to the next.

Together, these moves keep attention on outcomes, not ego or feelings from past events. Set clear decision windows, write exit lines before you begin, keep identity tied to the goal rather than the plan, use smaller tests to learn, and look for patterns before you commit to a change.

Behavioral flexibility is a working posture, not a slogan. Keep decisions time‑bound, write exit lines before you start, separate goals from methods, run small reversible tests, and look for patterns before you change a process. Start with one live task today: add a pre-defined trigger and follow it. That is how you adapt without drama and keep momentum when plans break.

Rigidity feels safe until the environment moves. Flexibility is safer. Decide, adapt, and keep moving forward.

Stay safe out there.

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