9 Hidden Costs of Living on Autopilot That Deeply Affect You

Far too many of us are coasting through life in a zombie-like state, unthinkingly reacting to events as they come, one day at a time.

It’s no wonder… modern life is hard enough, and sometimes you just have to do what you can to make it to the end of the day.

It’s kind of like when you’re driving a car you’ve driven a thousand times before, whether to work or to the grocery store, and you get to your destination and realize you don’t remember a thing from the drive. Heck, maybe you even missed an exit because you weren’t paying attention.

For some people, this is a permanent condition called disassociation, in which they feel detachment from reality as a way to cope with anxiety or stress. But what I’m describing is a more common and temporary state of mind in which you’re living on autopilot—going through the motions, and just doing what it takes to get by.

A 2023 study in the journal Sleep found that too little or poor quality sleep reduced people’s ability to stay focused on a task or hold information in short term memory. The sleep-deprived brain was weighed down with extra work, and so it did the bare minimum to get by, going through the motions like a zombie.

And it’s not just sleep deprivation that leads to this kind of mental fog, pretty much any kind of stress or feeling like life is out of control can lead you into a season of living on autopilot.

The problem is, it has real costs, and they add up. While it may feel like you’re doing what’s necessary to survive in the short run, in the long run you’re piling up a set of hidden costs that will eventually come due, along with all the inevitable interest.

These are real tradeoffs you are making, and sometimes they might be necessary in the short-term, but you should know what you’re trading in exchange for a season of survival mode.

In my own life, I find that I slip into autopilot mode when I haven’t gotten enough sleep, or when I’m overwhelmed with too many things I need to get done. My brain goes into energy conserving mode, and just tries to make it through the day with as little effort and as few mistakes as possible.

Fortunately, I’ve become aware of this tendency, and I know what it takes to reengage with my life and begin living intentionally again. I do this by getting back to the basics—sleep, exercise, nutritious food, and a season of pruning my priorities until I can get back to a manageable set of projects.

I encourage you to do the same, and the first step is to know the signs. If you’re experiencing any of the costs listed below, it’s possible you’ve been living too long on autopilot. Do what you can to move back to a season of intentional living. Not only do you owe it to yourself, but the people you care about in your life will benefit, too.

You stop making progress towards your goals

When you go into autopilot mode, you switch from a goal-oriented mode of thinking to a more reactive mode. You’re no longer making choices for a better tomorrow, you’re just doing what it takes to survive today. For example, you may be so focused on putting out fires at work that you never get around to the important projects that will make your job more manageable or push your career in the right direction.

You become more impulsive, and less controlled by your long-term values

When you’re living intentionally, you try to make decisions that are consistent with your values, and the long-term goals for your life. But when you switch to survival mode, your preferences tend to be biased towards the most urgent need in the moment, even if that means giving into a short-term temptation.

You lose sight of what’s happening around you

In the past when I’ve entered a long season of living on autopilot, I feel like I’m losing control of my life. I’m so focused on keeping my head above water that I rarely pick it up to see what’s happening around me.

You become more vulnerable to physical and mental health struggles

There’s a mental state I enter when I’m overwhelmed with things to do, or feeling like I am falling behind in my responsibilities. I begin to focus solely on getting things done, and that singular focus keeps me from tending to other important aspects of my life. When people go through long seasons of stress, their bodies are flooded with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which in the short-term help you deal with the stress, but in the long-term can weaken your immune system and other vital organs.

Your relationships begin to suffer

Relationships are a great source of joy and meaning in our lives, but when you’re in survival mode that kind of thinking gets pushed to the back of your mind. In the past, when I’ve felt overwhelmed, I fail to see the people in my life as fully human. They become either obstacles or means to an end. Either way, I don’t spend as much time as I should enjoying them for their own sake, and relationships inevitably begin to suffer.

You begin to feel like life is passing you by

One of my greatest fears is not living a long life, but looking back at the end of my life and realizing it wasn’t a full one. It’s possible to live nearly a century and feel like it went by in the blink of an eye; that’s because we don’t really measure time in years, but in experiences and memories. The seasons in my life where I was stuck in autopilot feel like a blur, because I wasn’t fully present in them.

You struggle to make decisions, and then to follow through with them

Living on autopilot is a combination of overwhelm, stress, and fatigue—when you feel that way, it’s hard to focus on anything other than what is right in front of your face. You feel like you’re putting out fires all day long, and so there’s no mental energy to plan for the future, dream new dreams, or lay the foundation for a better future.

You become more easily irritated by small things

When I’m deep in autopilot mode, I become hyper-focused and just want to make it to the end of the day as easily as possible. This makes me more risk-averse than usual, and therefore more easily annoyed by anything unexpected. Instead of thinking creatively, I see every little bump in the road as an obstacle, and it makes me want to throw my hands up in despair.

Your mind becomes more filled with thoughts of worry

I’m generally an optimistic and hopeful person, but when I go into autopilot mode, I’m more likely to view the world through a lens of fear. You see, my brain interprets the fact that I’m just trying to survive each day as a sign that the status quo is in danger. Autopilot mode is all about putting out fires but never thinking strategically about the future, and that means you start to fear what tomorrow might bring.