Audit for gravity problems blocking your plans

Identify which constraints you treat as fixed that are actually choices — and test whether they are as fixed as they feel.

Why it works

Burnett and Evans call "gravity problems" the constraints that feel like facts of physics but are actually beliefs — "I can’t leave this city," "I need this salary." Cognitive restructuring research shows that reframing perceived constraints as choices (even choices you ultimately keep making) restores agency and opens option space. Many plans people never sketch are blocked by gravity problems that would dissolve under examination.

How to do it

1. List the three biggest constraints on your ability to pursue Plan B or Plan C.
2. For each, ask: "Is this a fact of nature, or is it a choice I am making (for reasons that may be good)?"
3. If it is a choice, write what you would lose by making a different choice — this is the actual cost, not the impossibility.
4. Identify one constraint you have been treating as fixed that you would be willing to test.

Evidence

Perceived behavioral control — the belief that one can perform a behavior — is a major predictor of whether people attempt change; erroneously low perceived control suppresses option consideration. Cognitive restructuring techniques that reframe perceived constraints are well supported in CBT literature. (clinical)

The "gravity problem" framing is specific to the Designing Your Life framework; the underlying mechanism (perceived control) is well supported, but the exercise as a standalone intervention has not been trialed.

Sources

• Ajzen (1991), theory of planned behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Common mistake

Concluding that a gravity problem is not a constraint and should be abandoned — sometimes the constraint is the right choice and should be kept; the audit is about making it a conscious choice rather than an unexamined assumption.