by Michael W. Martin Jr. USN (Ret), MPhil, MBA
It began about 50 years ago and continues to consume most of my waking hours, thoughts, and academic journey. During my 26 years in the military and 45 years of competing and coaching in more than a dozen sports, one problem consistently remained unanswered in my pursuit of high performance. That issue became the research problem for my dissertation in organizational psychology: Why don’t we do what we know we should do to succeed?
Performance paralysis
Why don’t we do what we know we should do to succeed? I created 3 research questions to focus on describing the psychological, physiological, and sociological factors that contribute to performance paralysis among Service Members.
Performance paralysis is the condition when, despite having the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed, people fail to take the appropriate actions to perform at their best. Although my dissertation research focuses on the military—where readiness, precision, and performance under pressure are nonnegotiable—the impact of performance paralysis can be felt by anyone.
When a Service Member experiences performance paralysis, their loss of confidence can slow decision-making, compromise mission effectiveness, and endanger lives. At home, performance paralysis can lead to additional family stress.
Performance paralysis is often hidden under a culture of emotionless, mission-first mentality, making it difficult to detect or treat until breakdowns like burnout, anxiety, and disengagement occur.
Over the years, I’ve searched for theoretical answers to my research problem. Initially, I thought people failed to do what they know they should do out of cognitive dissonance—a state of mental distress that happens when someone has beliefs or thoughts that are inconsistent with their behavior. This seemed like a plausible answer for some cases of performance paralysis, but not a one-size-fits-all solution.
In the course of my dissertation research, I read up on more than 50 different theories and concepts related to the factors that contribute to performance paralysis. I also read more than 1,000 books (non-textbooks) and journal articles related to human performance. Based on this background information, I identified more than 120 factors that contribute to performance paralysis, which are categorized into 8 domains: emotional and psychological, habitual and behavioral, personal, mindset and beliefs, practical, physiological, environmental and systemic, and social.
Relationship to Total Force Fitness
Total Force Fitness (TFF) is DoD’s holistic model for optimizing the health, performance, and readiness of military personnel. It also encompasses 8 similar domains: physical, psychological, spiritual, social, nutritional, financial, environmental, and medical/dental. Performance paralysis directly challenges TFF goals, especially in these areas:
- Psychological fitness: Emotional stress, fear of failure, and perfectionism can each paralyze a Warfighter from taking action. Procrastination, avoidance, and disorganization are behavioral indicators of performance paralysis.
- Social fitness: Toxic leadership, external pressures and expectations, and lack of social support can create an environment that magnifies self-doubt and underperformance.
- Physical and nutritional fitness: Fatigue, injuries, and poor nutrition can worsen the perception of being “stuck.”
TFF provides the infrastructure, but performance paralysis reveals where that structure breaks down in real life.
Relationship to Human Performance Optimization
Human Performance Optimization (HPO) is the proactive pursuit of excellence across all domains of performance. It’s the high-performance engine behind elite units, athletes, and leaders. But you can have the best tools, procedures, and training—and still fail to act.
Performance paralysis is the opposite of HPO. It’s what happens when there’s a gap between capability and action. And unlike traditional deficits (such as a lack of knowledge or poor skills), this gap is often embedded in unseen internal conflicts, including fixed mindset, fear of change, perfectionism, or internalized expectations.
The elephant(s) in the room
Performance paralysis is a high-cost, low-visibility threat to individual well-being and organizational readiness. The impact is profound and difficult to accurately assess.
- Financially: The costs of performance-related barriers are staggering. Obesity alone costs the Department of Defense more than $1.2 billion each year in direct health care expenses, with millions more lost to hospitalizations and reduced productivity. Musculoskeletal injuries—many of them preventable—account for another $100 million annually in treatment and lost duty days. When combined with attrition, recruitment shortfalls, and early medical retirements, the cumulative impact easily reaches into the billions across the force. At the individual level, the economic consequences can include missed promotions, lost educational opportunities, or early medical discharge—all of which can have lifelong consequences.
- Mentally and physically: Performance paralysis often leads to increased anxiety, burnout, and depression—especially among Service Members who are eager to advance and quick to volunteer for almost any opportunity. Physically, performance paralysis can be reinforced or made worse by chronic fatigue, poor sleep, or stress-related illnesses. In the military, where high performance is rewarded and seeking help can be stigmatized, this silent suffering often goes unreported until it turns into physical breakdown, behavioral misconduct, or complete disengagement.
Bottom line
Performance paralysis is the result of multiple factors that act together to prevent people from realizing their full potential. Despite an abundance of self-help books and courses, online information, and professional interventions, performance paralysis is still a huge issue.
In the sequel to this post, I’ll discuss the results of my research and provide a practical solution to explain why we often fail to do what we know we should do to succeed. Spoiler alert—the largest price we pay is the opportunity cost for knowing too much and doing too little.
