Life on Autopilot

The alarm goes off at the same time every day. Not that it matters… it could stay silent and we’d still wake up like clockwork. We roll out of bed and fall straight into the default routine. Coffee. Breakfast. Shower. Work. Dinner. Evening routine. Sleep. Repeat.

There’s nothing wrong with routine, but let’s be honest: most of us aren’t really living our lives. We’re running them on autopilot. Cruise control. Eyes open, mind asleep. Our brains love it that way - low effort, low awareness, low presence.

Neuroscientists estimate that nearly 47% of our waking hours are spent mind‑wandering, not actually engaged in what we’re doing. Almost half our lives lived somewhere else. No wonder we feel disconnected.

You know the feeling. You’re driving home and suddenly you’re in your driveway, with no memory of the in‑between. You weren’t in your body. You were in your head, replaying conversations, imagining scenarios, drifting from thought to thought until something external snapped you back. I’m sure you’ve also had a conversation where you suddenly realize you have no idea what the other person just said, because you were busy playing imagination games.

We like to believe we’re in control, but most days we’re not. We’re mentally sedated. Distracted. Half‑present with our partners, our kids, our friends, our colleagues, our work… even ourselves.

The Feelers vs. The Thinkers

Some people break through this fog more easily. The feelers. The ones who get swept up in the moment, who laugh with abandon, who cry when something hits their heart, who live from the inside out. They’re not performing aliveness, they’re experiencing it. Emotion pulls them into the present with a force stronger than thought.

Then there are the thinkers. The problem‑solvers, the analysts, the planners. They live in the mind by default, and they’re good at it. They trust thought more than feeling. They don’t see mental autopilot as a trap - they see it as home.

But the real difference between these groups isn’t emotional vs. logical. It's based on how they answer this question:

How long can you stay in the moment before your mind drags you back into its familiar loops?

The brain is wired to prefer autopilot. It wants predictable patterns, not new terrain. So when life demands presence - when work, relationships, or growth pull us out of our mental comfort zone - we feel distress. Sometimes subtle. Sometimes full‑blown anxiety. Growth Hurts Because It Wakes Us Up Growth is uncomfortable because it forces us to wake up. It demands cognitive effort. It requires us to think intentionally, feel honestly, and inhabit our bodies instead of hiding in our thoughts.

And I see this every day in my work.

As a sales leader, my job is essentially to help people interrupt their autopilot. To challenge default thinking. To push past the comfortable patterns. Growth in this context isn’t abstract - it’s practical, measurable, and often uncomfortable. It requires preparation, curiosity, strategy, and deliberate thought. It requires people to show up consciously, not just mechanically.

Watching people grow - and resist growth - has taught me something important:

Autopilot is the enemy of potential.

And breaking out of it takes far more mental energy than staying in it.

Ease Isn’t a Lifestyle - It’s a Reward

The more time you spend in your head, the more disconnected and disenchanted you feel. That feeling is a compass. Pay attention to it. It’s telling you that ease, the thing we’ve glorified and chased, is not a lifestyle. It’s a reward. A momentary exhale before the next effort sprint.

Your Imagination Isn’t the Enemy - Until It Is

If you want to grow, you have to wake up. You have to interrupt the autopilot. You have to choose presence over comfort - feeling what you’re feeling, slowing it all down long enough to actually live the moments out.

Because the imagination is seductive. It wants us to read it another story. Like a child pleading for “just one more” story. And if we aren’t fully in the moment - in our bodies, in our breath, in our senses - we go back for another story. And another. And another. Until the narrative we create becomes the one we fall prey to.

We weren’t meant to live a rinse‑and‑repeat life. Remember the story you imagined for yourself as a child? It was big. Boundless. Full of possibility. You weren’t dreaming of stability, you were dreaming of aliveness.

Somewhere along the way, our imagination turned against us. Instead of dreaming, we catastrophize. Instead of possibilities, we picture failures. Instead of futures, we rehearse fears.

That’s why interrupting your thoughts matters. It’s not about “positive thinking.” It’s about reclaiming the steering wheel.

The Fastest Way Back Into Your Body

There are countless ways to snap out of your head and back into your life:

•  Music or singing

•  Working out

•  Dance

•  Theatre

•  Cooking or baking

•  Running

•  Painting

•  Photography

•  Acting or being on set

•  Playing an instrument

•  Hiking

•  Cold plunges

•  Gardening

•  Anything that demands your full sensory attention

These aren’t hobbies - they’re portals. They transport you into the moment where your body, heart, and mind finally sync up. That’s where creation happens. That’s where life happens. That’s where intentional living begins.

The Hardest Work You’ll Ever Do

Changing the way you think is one of the hardest things any of us will ever do. And yes, you’ll stray. You’ll drift back into imagination land more often than you want to admit.

But waking up is a practice.

Putting your phone away.  

Letting a moment breathe.  

Not rushing.  

Not checking.  

Not numbing.  

Just feeling.  

Just being.

Sitting with yourself - or with someone you trust - and enjoying the place you’re in and the feelings you’re experiencing. Expecting nothing. Anticipating much. That’s actual living.

You weren’t born for autopilot. You were born for aliveness.

And the moment you choose presence over comfort, you start living the life you once imagined, not the one your thoughts settled for.