Cognitive Flexibility and Why it Matters
Cognitive Flexibility and Why it Matters
Cognitive Flexibility and Why it Matters
When was the last time your life went sideways?
One day, you’re humming along with a smile and a plan. The next day, life says, “Bless your heart,” and flips the script. A schedule changes. A door closes. A curveball shows up uninvited.
While that moment doesn’t feel great, it’s where growth actually happens. Not in the tidy, well-lit parts of life, but in the messy middle when the plan you had no longer fits the reality you’re in.
The Staircase Moment
I came across an Instagram post that felt like a perfect metaphor for moments like these. The video shows different people, at different times, all tumbling at the exact same spot on an uneven staircase.
This phenomenon is called sensorimotor mismatch. When one step is slightly different, the brain receives unexpected feedback that doesn’t match its prediction. As a result, your foot lands too high or too low… and down you go. Even the smallest deviations can disrupt our muscle memory and balance.
I paused the video and thought, Isn’t this the same as life?
When something familiar shifts enough to break our expectations, even if it’s minor, it catches us off guard. And in that moment, we can stumble. Not because we’re incapable, but because we weren’t prepared to adjust.
We assume the next step will be the same as the last one.
We assume the path we’re on will keep holding us.
We assume effort and experience will carry us forward without interruption.
That’s Where Versatility Comes In
If life always went according to plan, we wouldn’t need it. But here we are.
Plans change, people surprise us, and just when you think you’ve got your footing, life casually moves the floor. EvolvAbility was built for these moments.
Versatility is the skill of learning how to adapt, lead, and grow forward, not by avoiding discomfort, but by expanding your capacity to meet it.
When familiar patterns are disrupted (when the “step” isn’t where your brain expects it), rigid thinking can trip you just as easily as rigid muscle memory.
Cognitive flexibility is your ability to switch gears, consider new perspectives, and adjust when reality no longer matches your expectations.
With greater cognitive flexibility, you make better decisions, regulate emotions more effectively, and recover from stress faster. You stop forcing old solutions onto new problems.
When you can change how you think, change becomes less destabilizing.
And when life moves the step, cognitive flexibility helps you keep your footing.
Build Cognitive Flexibility
Anything that challenges how you see the world builds cognitive flexibility: Change your routine, sleep on a different side of the bed, take a different route to work, or brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand. It sounds small, but each of these shifts forces your brain out of autopilot.
Read, watch, or listen to a perspective that challenges your own. Not to change your mind, but to stretch it.
Ask questions like:
- What else can be true?
- What haven’t I thought of?
- How might someone else view this situation?
You can also stretch your thinking by engaging with perspectives that differ from your own. Not to change your mind, but to expand it.
Each time you try to learn something new or respond differently than you have before, you’re strengthening your brain’s ability to adapt.
Pause and Ponder:
When was the last time you changed your mind? Not because you were forced to–but because you were open enough to listen, curious enough to explore, and brave enough to admit there might be another way?
Versatility is built by showing up, screwing up, and staying in the game anyway. It’s being willing to try something new before you feel confident. It’s choosing curiosity over comfort and progress over perfection.
