As regular readers will attest, my most recent soapbox has been the use of the 80:20 Rule to get sustainability programmes out of the mire of incremental improvements and ‘green tape’ and onto a straight, fast road to our goals (see video above).

The awkward question is why does the sustainability movement tend towards the comfort zone of incremental improvements, bureaucratic systems and mediocrity? Why favour activity over outcome? Why stultify creativity and innovation?

I think it is, to a large degree, down to fear.

Fear of moving out of our comfort zone.

Fear of rocking the boat.

Fear of taking a punt.

Fear of failure.

Fear, possibly, of success.

Fear is a natural emotion, but we need to programme ourselves, Anthony Robbins-style, to fear the status quo rather than being scared of actually fulfilling our goals.