The Cost of Staying in Potential

At West Point, we made our beds every single morning.

Not casually. Not good enough. Corners sharp, blanket pulled tight, not a single wrinkle visible from the doorway. You never knew when an inspection might come, so you had to be ready before you left the room. Every day. No exceptions.

Here's what actually happened.

Most of us learned to sleep on top of the bed with a comforter affectionately called a Green Girl. In the morning, all you had to do was fold it back, smooth out a few creases, and walk out the door. Voilà, the bed was made.

Admiral William McRaven, a Navy SEAL and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, knew the value of this concept even before science caught up. In a commencement address at the University of Texas that became one of the most-watched speeches in internet history, his first point was simple: make your bed. Not because the bed matters. But because the act of completing something, first thing, every morning, before the day has a chance to derail you, creates momentum. It tells your brain, I finish what I start. I do what I said I would do. 

When you complete something, even a small one, your brain releases dopamine. It tags the behavior: do that again.

Making your bed takes less than two minutes. (Seconds, if you've mastered the green girl technique.) It's that simple. But often, we confuse simple for easy. Just say no. Just skip desert. Just get up earlier. Simple? Yes. Easy? Maybe not.

THE UNMADE BED IN YOUR LIFE

So why does simple feel so hard? Because simple is personal. What’s easy for one person is loaded for another. Whatever your version is, it carries weight. History. Meaning. Pattern. 

That's not a weakness. That's human.

And it shows up in the most ordinary places. 

• ▸ the gym bag that’s been in your car
• ▸ the newsletter you haven’t sent
• ▸ the conversation you keep rehearsing
• ▸ the routine you’ve designed but haven’t lived

The reasons these simple actions stay undone range from the practical to the deeply human. No time. No energy. A schedule so packed that one more thing, even a small one, feels like the thing that might break you. Or it feels too big, too tangled, too far from where you are to know where to even begin.

And then there's the one most high achievers won't say out loud: if I can't do it right, completely, all the way, it almost doesn't feel worth starting.

I get that one personally. I used to think that if I was going to work out, I had to go all in. I’d get to the gym and push hard, while silently judging (okay, maybe envying) the person casually walking on the treadmill reading a book. At the time, I thought a light workout didn’t count.

If you’re going to do something, do it all the way.

That mindset works, until it doesn’t.

Because when all the way becomes the only acceptable way, it quietly becomes the reason you don’t start at all.

We keep circling the same things: the habit, the project, the conversation, the version of ourselves we keep meaning to step into. Waiting for the perfect time. The perfect plan.

But waiting isn’t neutral. It’s stored energy.

In physics, energy is either stored or moving. Potential energy is stored energy, the boulder at the top of the hill, all that weight and possibility, just sitting there. The bicycle, wheels still, ready to roll. The diver at the end of the board, perfectly still, completely loaded, one decision away from motion. 

Kinetic energy is the moment it all releases, when the toes lift off the board, when the wheel begins turning, when the boulder inches forward, and gravity takes over.

That first move, from zero to something, is enough. It's not just enough, it's the required beginning. We can't lose 100 pounds without losing just the first one. We can't repair a relationship without saying the first honest thing. We can't build a morning routine without showing up on the first morning.

POTENTIAL ENERGY IS NOT FREE

Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik discovered something that should stop every high achiever mid-scroll. Her research showed that the brain gives disproportionate attention to unfinished tasks. It doesn't file them away neatly for you to deal with later. It keeps them open. Running. Returning to them again and again, whether you invite it to or not.

As Zeigarnik observed, we remember uncompleted tasks far better than completed ones, not because they're more important, but because the brain treats them as unresolved. Open loops. Unfinished business. And open loops consume bandwidth.

Every unfinished conversation, every deferred decision, every version of yourself you can clearly picture but haven't stepped into yet, that's not neutral storage. That's active drain. Your brain is spending energy on things you've decided not to decide about yet. And you may not even know it's happening. But you can certainly feel it. 

Not only can you feel it, but that low-grade weight shows up in the room, in how present you are, how clear your thinking is, how available you are to the people who need you. 

Research confirms what most leaders already sense: chronic cognitive load from unresolved tasks depletes the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for clear thinking, sound judgment, and emotional regulation. The part you need most when the stakes are highest. Your team isn't experiencing your intentions. They're experiencing what's left after everything you're holding in potential has taken its cut.

ZERO TO ONE: THREE KEYS TO GET MOVING

Nick Saban won seven national championships coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide. When people asked how he built a program that won at that level year after year, with different players and opponents, his answer was surprisingly unglamorous. He called it The Process. Don't think about the championship. Don't look at the scoreboard. Focus only on what you need to do on this play. The one right in front of you.

His players weren't allowed to talk about championships. When you focus on the magnitude of the outcome, you leave the present moment. And the present moment is the only place action lives.

Here are three quick ways to start moving the ball today:

Call the play. In the huddle, calm, clear, before the pressure hits, you decide exactly what you're going to do. In football, the play is specific. It's not get the ball. It's a precise route, a specific block, a defined moment. Life works the same way. Not "I'll work out more" but two minutes of jumping jacks before the 7 am call, Monday through Friday. Not "I'll have that conversation, but I'm texting her today to schedule it. Not, I'll get more sleep, but lights out at 10 pm, starting tonight. Not "I'll work on that report, but fifteen minutes before I open email, every morning this week. The play is called. The decision is made.

Put your game face on. When the ball is snapped, the quarterback doesn't stop to question the coach. He doesn't renegotiate at the line of scrimmage. The play was called in the huddle, in the calm, in the clear. Now he runs it. That's it. In life, when the alarm goes off, when the laptop opens, when the moment arrives, that's the snap. Tired, busy, not feeling it, it doesn't matter. The play was already called. You just run it.

Celebrate in the end zone. In football, you score, and you feel it. You don't jog back to the huddle pretending it didn't happen. Three seconds. That's all it takes. Acknowledge what you just did, out loud, in your head, in a text to someone in your corner. Your brain needs that signal. It's the difference between a behavior that sticks and one that quietly disappears. And it's what makes the next play easier than this one.

To learn more bout these three keys, check out The Healthy Leader Podcast, Episode #58, Potential to Kinetic Energy.

THE QUESTION WORTH ASKING

What are you holding in potential right now?

Not what's planned, what’s avoided. It’s already costing you; you can feel it.

The goal isn't to carry it better. The goal is to move it.

Now, the only question left is, do you take the next step, or do you stay in potential?

Traci Fisher is an executive coach, ICF PCC, and Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach, and founder of The Healthy Leader Group. She works with senior leaders at the intersection of health, capacity, and performance, helping them close the gap between who they know they can be and how they actually show up. Learn more at thehealthyleadergroup.com.

Ready to call the play? Let's talk.