Moxie: Avoidance Is The Path

Clarity lives on the other side of avoidance.

(The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986.)

ONE STORY

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff. Seven astronauts were killed. And the world froze in disbelief.

In the hours that followed, NASA leaders searched for an explanation. They told the public it was an unforeseeable accident, a tragic mystery no one could have prevented.

The message was clear: We did everything right.

But they hadn’t. And they hadn’t because they couldn’t face what was right in front of them.

For months before launch, engineers had warned that the rubber O-rings sealing the rocket boosters lost flexibility in cold weather. On the morning of the launch, temperatures had dropped to record lows. But those warnings were overruled.

(The seven Challenger crew members: Francis R. Scobee (Commander), Michael J. Smith (Pilot), Ronald McNair (Mission Specialist), Ellison Onizuka (Mission Specialist), Judith Resnik (Mission Specialist), Gregory Jarvis (Payload Specialist), and Christa McAuliffe (Teacher in Space), pose before launch.)

And, in the aftermath, the executives prematurely concluded that the data didn’t show enough risk to delay.

They wanted clarity. They wanted certainty. And honestly, they wanted to avoid the harsh truth: they screwed up.

Enter Richard Feynman. A Nobel Prize winning physicist and professional question asker, he wasn’t there to protect reputations or avoid hard truths. He was there to get curious, to follow the evidence wherever it led.

He spoke with the engineers who’d been ignored. He listened. And, in doing so, he saw what others were avoiding: that a desire for closure had blinded everyone to evidence that was always there.

(Feynman demonstrates the lack of resilience of the shuttle "O-ring" to reporters.)

During a live hearing, Feynman dropped a piece of that same O-ring rubber into a glass of ice water. As the cameras rolled, it stiffened instantly.

In seconds, the myth collapsed. The “unforeseeable” suddenly became obvious. The truth had been waiting, it just needed someone willing to look.

Feynman didn’t just expose a technical flaw; he revealed a psychological one. When we crave certainty, we stop seeking truth. And what we avoid exploring is usually the very thing we most need to understand.

NASA didn’t need more intelligence.
It needed more courage to stay curious.

The Brain Science - Avoidance vs. Curiosity

Your brain is predictive, not logical.

Its first job isn’t accuracy; it’s protection.

When uncertainty or potential pain shows up, the brain’s threat system (especially the amygdala) flares, pushing you to find closure fast.

It doesn’t just avoid danger. It avoids discomfort, including hard truths, conflicting data, and emotional pain.

If a fact threatens your sense of control or identity, your brain quietly edits it out.

That’s why we jump to conclusions. It’s not because we’re careless. It’s because certainty feels safer than curiosity.

Psychologists call this premature closure.

Premature closure is the brain’s way of trading accuracy for relief. Once we decide, the prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for logic, curiosity, and perspective, goes quiet.

We stop exploring and start defending.

But curiosity reactivates higher-order thinking.

Curiosity – the willingness to explore even that which we avoid – reopens the loop, allowing the brain to integrate uncomfortable truths rather than avoid them.

That’s how Feynman worked. He didn’t protect his conclusions. He tested them.

Because clarity doesn’t come from what feels safe. It comes from staying open long enough to see what’s real.

📜 TWO QUOTES

“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.” – Richard Feynman

“The hallmark of an open mind is not letting your predictions become your perceptions.” – Lisa Feldman Barrett

🚀 THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. What you avoid is where the truth hides.
The brain’s first instinct is to protect you from pain, not lead you to clarity. But what you avoid often holds the very insight you need. Move toward it. That’s where learning begins.

2. Curiosity trains the brain for hard things.
Each time you choose curiosity over comfort, you strengthen the neural pathways that handle uncertainty and complexity. You build capacity not just to think better, but to stay steady when the truth is uncomfortable.

3. Discomfort is a doorway, not a warning sign.
Avoidance keeps you safe but small. Stepping into what feels hard activates higher-order thinking, logic, creativity, and discernment. Courage isn’t about being fearless; it’s about being curious when fear shows up.

🔍 MOXIE REFLECTIONS

• What truth or tension have I been avoiding, and what might it be trying to teach me?

• What emotion do I experience when I'm avoiding that thing? 

• What would it look like to stay with the discomfort one question longer?

    

🛠️ TOOLS FOR GROWTH

🧩 PATTERN RECOGNITION: Anchoring Bias

Anchoring Bias is the tendency to treat our first conclusion as truth and filter everything else through it. It feels like confidence, but it’s really rigidity. We defend the first version instead of discovering the fuller story.

The Fix: Unhook from the first answer. Ask, “What else could be true?” Invite contradiction. Test your assumptions. Clarity doesn’t come from being certain; it comes from staying open.

🧠 MENTAL SKILL OF THE WEEK: Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive Flexibility is the ability to shift perspective without losing balance. It’s what great performers, coaches, and leaders do when new information challenges their plan.

They don’t double down. They adjust. Instead of defending what they first decided, they stay present to what’s actually true.

How to train it:

• Before reacting, pause and ask: “What might I be missing?”
• In conversation, listen for what surprises you.
• Afterward, reflect on how your view changed, and what that shift taught you.

🌱 ONE MORE THING


(Richard Feynman at Caltech.)

Richard Feynman didn’t flinch from what others avoided. He went straight toward it.

That’s your cue this next week.
When you feel resistance, lean in.
When you want to be done, stay one question longer.
When you’re sure you’re right, ask what else could be true.

Don’t chase relief. Chase reality.
That’s where clarity lives.