Why Your Obsession with Novelty Is Killing Your Progress

Thought For The Week

We live in a society that prizes novelty: new trends, new experiences, new ideas. We’re told to keep things fresh, to avoid routine, and to constantly change direction.

In that kind of environment, repetition can seem dull or unimaginative.

But the truth is, repetition is where real change happens. From learning a new language to mastering a skill or building healthy habits, it’s the consistent repetition that drives adaptation.

Neuroscience tells us that repeated actions strengthen the neural pathways that make behaviours feel more natural over time — something called neuroplasticity.

Repetition isn’t boring and it’s not a lack of creativity — it’s the structure and discipline that allows progress to happen.

Exercise Tip

Much of the health and fitness world is obsessed with novelty — the latest trend, a new variation on an exercise, the next game-changing piece of equipment. We’re told to constantly mix things up.

But it’s worth asking: what’s all that change actually for?

While variety has its place, real progress in training doesn’t come from constant reinvention — it comes from consistent repetition.

Every squat, every push-up, every run sends a signal to your body to adapt and improve. Over time, your muscles, joints, and nervous system learn to perform these movements more efficiently and with greater control. This is how strength, endurance, and coordination develop: through consistent, repeated exposure to the same patterns.

It’s not a one-off, radical new exercise that initiates change, but the hundreds of consistent, intentional repetitions that teach your body what to do and how to do it better.

Try this:

Film one of your main lifts this week and assess how it looks. Watch for control, tempo, range of motion, and alignment. Small refinements in movement quality will pay off far more than constantly chasing new exercises.

Nutrition Tip

The same need for novelty shows up in nutrition — new diets, new superfoods, new rules that dictate whether a food is “good” or “bad”. We’re encouraged to overhaul our eating again and again.

But sustainable results don’t come from constant resets; they come from repeated actions that your body and mind can rely on.

Eating balanced meals, staying hydrated, fuelling consistently, and steering clear of junk food aren’t flashy or exciting ideas, but over time they train your mind and metabolism to work in sync.

Each repeated choice — from planning your meals to making sure you eat breakfast — reinforces a pattern that becomes easier and more automatic with time.

Just like in training, it’s the small, repeated behaviours that will shape your long-term results.

Try this:

Repeat one balanced meal each day this week to reduce decision fatigue. Choose something that’s quick, satisfying, nutrient-dense, and that you actually enjoy. Having a reliable go-to meal makes it easier to stay consistent with your nutrition, even on busy days, and helps reinforce the habit of balanced eating.

Links & Resources

Article: This article from PositivePsychology.com explores how habits form, covering the neuroscience of habit loops (cue → behaviour → reward), psychological theories behind them, and practical tips for building beneficial habits and breaking harmful ones.

Book: In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge examines neuroplasticity through a series of case studies that demonstrate the brain’s capacity for rewiring itself through repeated action, learning and rehabilitation.

Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear offers a practical guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones, emphasising the power of small, consistent changes.

Inspirational Quote

“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”

Zig Ziglar