Feature photo by Eli Aghdam on Unsplash
The Comfort of a Simple Metaphor
In Holistic Management, a “logjam” is often used as a metaphor for something that is stuck—an obstruction in a system that, once shifted, allows flow to resume. The classic image is a river in northern hemisphere forests, completely backed up with logs unable to move. Move one key log holding everything back, and the entire jam releases.
It is a compelling image. Simple. Satisfying. Mechanical.
And perhaps that is part of the problem.
When We Assume the Problem Is “Out There”
Because while this metaphor suggests that logjams are external, visible, and solvable through technical intervention, the reality in human systems is often very different. The most persistent logjams are rarely “out there.” They are within us—embedded in how we see, how we decide, and how we relate.
We first look for the log to move “out there” because it is easier than turning inward.
In practice, what we call a logjam might look like a delayed decision, a project that never quite progresses, a team that circles the same conversation, or a farm that resists change despite new tools or advice. From the outside, it appears something is stuck. So we search for the external constraint: lack of resources, poor timing, insufficient information.
Sometimes those things are real.
But often, they are not the primary constraint.
The “It Won’t Work Here” Pattern
One of the most common patterns I hear—particularly from farmers—is the immediate assumption “ that won’t work here.” Not in this paddock. Not in this catchment. Not in this region, state, or country. The idea may work somewhere else, for someone else, under different conditions—but not here.
What is striking is how often this conclusion is reached before anything has been tried.
Not even a small, safe-to-fail experiment is worth a try.
In these moments, the logjam is not climatic, financial, or technical. It is perceptual. A conclusion has been drawn so quickly, and held so firmly, that it closes down inquiry. It prevents observation. It removes the possibility of learning before learning has even begun.
And because it feels rational—grounded in experience, identity, and a desire to get it right—it rarely gets questioned.
When Certainty Becomes the Blockage
This is how internal logjams sustain themselves.
They don’t present as obstacles. They present as certainty.
We then continue to search for external solutions—new tools, new advice, new systems—without recognising that the real constraint is the frame through which we interpret it all. No matter what we introduce, it gets filtered through the same unexamined assumption: that won’t work here.
So nothing moves.
Or, just as often, we miss what is already working. In the effort to find the “right” solution, attention narrows toward what is not working, what needs fixing, what is still unresolved. Subtle signs of health, resilience, or improvement are overlooked because they do not match the outcome we are trying to force.
The system is already responding. But we are not seeing it.
Shifting the Log: From Action to Awareness
This is where the metaphor of the logjam begins to shift. What if the “one log” is not a physical constraint, but a shift in perspective? What if movement comes not from doing more, but from loosening our grip on certainty?
In Holistic Management, we are invited to examine not just what decision we are making, but how we are making it. Yet it is easy to bypass this invitation. The pull toward action—toward fixing, implementing, solving—is strong. It gives us a sense of control and progress.
Looking inward requires something else.
It requires a willingness to assume we might be wrong.
Not as a weakness, but as a discipline, a practice. A way of staying open long enough to observe what is actually happening, rather than what we expect to see. It asks us to replace conclusions with questions, and certainty with curiosity.
Small Shifts That Change Everything
It may mean running a small trial in the very place we are convinced something won’t work. It may mean asking: what would I need to see to know this assumption isn’t true? It may mean having a conversation we’ve been quietly avoiding—one that could shift a relationship, a decision, or a long-held position.
These are not large, dramatic interventions.
But they are often the ones that move everything.
Because once the internal logjam begins to loosen, the external system can respond differently. New options appear. Energy returns. Decisions that felt complex become clearer.
Letting the System Flow Again
The river flows again—not because we forced it, but because we stopped trying to hold it in place.
