The Psychology of No Return: Why We Hate Going Back Even When It’s Faster

Or: the hidden mental pattern that keeps you stuck.

Double-back reflection by 📷

Have you ever refused to turn around when you’re lost?

Or continued down a failing path at work because starting over felt impossible?

Perhaps you've stayed in a situation that wasn't serving you simply because you'd already invested so much time?

If so, it’s not just you—it’s me, too! And presumably others of us.

I recently learned about a fascinating psychological pattern called "doubling-back aversion" that explains this exact phenomenon. Research shows we have a powerful, innate resistance to undoing progress—even when backtracking would be the quickest route to our destination.¹

This isn’t just a fun fact, it’s something that can affect your life and daily choices. Consider this key principle of A Year of Mental Health:

Our mental patterns sometimes work against our best interests. Once we understand this, we can change the patterns.

Okay, so how does that apply here? First, let’s unpack the doubling-back aversion a bit more.

Why We Hate Backtracking

Doubling-back aversion is our innate reluctance to pursue more efficient paths when they require undoing progress we've already made. It's the psychological resistance we feel when faced with the option to backtrack, even when doing so would save us time and effort overall.

This behavior has two key components:

1. the deletion of progress (undoing work we've completed), and

2. the perception of having more of a task remaining (feeling like we're starting over rather than just continuing)

Simply put, we avoid doubling back because it makes our past efforts feel wasted and our future work feel more daunting.

Even when we rationally understand that backtracking would be more efficient, the subjective interpretations of our past and future efforts push us toward less optimal paths—just to avoid the psychological discomfort of undoing what's already been done.

The researchers of this report (it’s actually based on four different studies) use the example of a traveler faced with a flight delay.

Consider a New Yorker flying home from San Francisco with a stopover in Los Angeles. After landing in Los Angeles, they see their flight to New York is severely delayed. The airline gives them the option to switch to reroute through Denver, which would get them to New York three hours earlier. Although several previously identified psychological forces may discourage switching from the status quo, we suspect many travelers would take this time-saving detour.

Now imagine a twist. Instead of an alternate routing through Denver, the airline offers the opportunity to fly back to San Francisco before continuing nonstop to New York. Even if this change would also save three hours, we suspect enthusiasm for it would be lower. We propose this is because the option involves doubling back: the deletion or undoing of progress already made (flying back to San Francisco) such that one then has more of a journey to complete (the entire trip from San Francisco to New York instead of just the remaining portion). We propose people display doubling-back aversion, a preference to avoid doubling back even when doing so is a more efficient means to an end.

As a frequent traveler, I relate to this example. In fact, when I was flying around the world all the time, I knew that I disliked backtracking—even though it was something I had to do often! I’m not sure why flying 10 hours in one direction is any different from going the other way, but as the research shows, there’s some weird psychological aversion to anything that feels like we’re doubling-back.

How might this apply to our lives?

• Maintaining toxic friendships because ending them would mean all the effort was "for nothing"

• Continuing to use complicated productivity apps that don't work for you because you've already input all your data

• Following through on planning mistakes (like taking a longer route) rather than turning around

• Continuing in a misaligned career path rather than "starting over" in a field better suited to your strengths and interests

• Refusing to learn new skills that would require temporarily setting aside your current expertise

Breaking the Backtracking Barrier

So what can we do about this tendency to avoid doubling back—even when it would save us time and energy in the long run?

First, as is so often the case, simply being aware of the pattern is half the battle. Next time you find yourself resistant to undoing progress, pause and ask: "Am I avoiding this choice purely because it feels like erasing what I've already done?"

Remember, the path that feels like progress isn't always the one that gets you there fastest. Sometimes the fastest way forward really is to go back. And understanding this quirk of our psychology gives us the power to choose better routes—in travel, in work, and in life.

Reflections

1. When have you encountered doubling-back aversion in your own life?

2. Which projects or goals might benefit from reassessment, even if it means backtracking?

3. How might recognizing this pattern help you make better decisions going forward?

1. This is similar to, but ultimately distinct from the sunk-cost fallacy, where we continue investing in something primarily because of what we've already put into it. Doubling-back aversion makes us avoid more efficient routes because "I don't want to undo the progress I've already made, even if it would be faster overall."