This is from Steve Pavlina's "Personal Development Insights" newsletter email #52, have a read:
Steve and I at the Morten Hake summit 2012.
The Law of Least Effort vs. Hard Work -- Which Is Better?
Perhaps you've heard of the
Law of Least Effort, which states that it's best to go through life with a sense of grace, ease, and lightness and avoid struggle and suffering.
And perhaps you've also been taught that hard work really pays off and
that effort is a good thing. This idea is often backed up by stories
from people who pushed through major obstacles to achieve their goals.
You may have also seen the
blog post I shared on this topic yesterday.
Don't these ideas contradict each other? Is one of them more correct?
Does each method work in some situations but not others? Let's explore
this together.
What Is Effort?
Effort is exertion. It's the application of energy to get something
done. In some cases this exertion may feel draining. When people think
of effort, they often picture strenuous, tiring, difficult work.
Let's go a little further into this and consider the different types of effort.
First, there's
physical exertion, like helping a friend move some heavy furniture, running a marathon, or having a threesome.
Second, there's
mental work, like writing a book, composing a song, or
starting an online business.
Third, we have
emotional stress, such as summoning the courage to quit your job, going through a divorce, or having to declare bankruptcy.
And lastly, we have what could be labeled
holistic or spiritual trials,
where we face deep, multi-faceted changes like stepping into a new
lifestyle, switching careers, or questioning the very nature of reality.
If we want to go more granular here, we could come up with further
sub-categories of effort like financial effort, community effort, and so
on, but I'd say these are the big four that people associate with
personal effort.
Does Least Effort Mean Avoiding Work?
Is it intelligent to expect that certain tasks will get done with no
effort? Will your body somehow get into athletic shape if you just sit
around on the couch watching TV? Will your book write itself while
you're out playing golf? Will your taxes get filed while you're not
paying attention?
Some people seem to have convinced themselves that avoiding physical
exertion, mental work, emotional stress, and spiritual trials is the
proper application of the Law of Least Effort. At one time or another, I
probably counted myself among them. But these days I don't have much
respect for this approach. Try it for yourself for a few years if you
want... but only if you enjoy stagnation.
That said, I actually love the Law of Least Effort. I feel it's a wise
principle in general, as long as we apply it intelligently. Intelligent
application doesn't include using this idea as your justification to
wriggle out of doing the hard work that's required for certain results.
The truth is that there are plenty of goals that require hard work --
lots of hard work! These are often the most interesting and worthwhile
goals to tackle.
The problem isn't that the goals are hard. The problem is that in
addition to the necessary physical and mental effort (and perhaps some
required emotional stretching as well), we're adding a hefty dose of
unnecessary inner resistance to those goals -- especially in form of
resistance to the process of getting there. We see the hard work ahead
of us and say "Oh no, not that!"
The Law of Least Effort doesn't mean that we should avoid these types of
challenges. Rather, try to see it an invitation to stop resisting the
required effort in such tasks. When you stop resisting a challenge, it
becomes easier because you're no longer fighting with yourself. "Least
effort" means "Stop adding unnecessary resistance on top of the truly
necessary work."
Necessary vs. Unnecessary Effort
When I was a kid, maybe around 9 years old, I wanted to learn how to
ride a bike. I'd been riding one with training wheels for years, but
each time I tried to ride it without them, I'd get scared that I'd fall
and hurt myself. I couldn't balance properly. It seemed like learning to
ride a bike required too much effort, too much practice, and too much
stress. So I avoided doing what was necessary to develop this skill.
Then one day I discovered that my little sister was trying to learn to
ride a bike. I saw that she was close to figuring it out. No way was I
going to watch her pass me up and figure it out before I did! Suddenly I
let go of all resistance to the challenge. I grabbed my blue and yellow
banana-seated kid's bike, cast myself out in the suburban neighborhood
streets, and resolved not to go back into the house until I could ride
it without falling off and killing myself.
Action-wise I got on the bike without any training wheels and did the
best I could. I gently pushed off from the concrete driveway and tried
to balance while coasting. I accepted that I might fall and that it
would probably hurt if I did. I tried to stay close to people's lawns so
hopefully I might onto the soft grass if I took a spill. My first few
attempts were crazed spirals of doom. I couldn't make the bike go
straight and had to endure some road rash. But I kept going, fueled by
raw determination, and in less than an hour, I figured out how to
balance. Soon I was happily pedaling up and down the street, feeling
like Tom Hanks in this
11-second clip from the movie
Castaway.
What was the actual effort required to achieve this goal? It really
didn't take much time. Physically it wasn't that strenuous, although it
took some trial and error and the willingness to endure minor injuries.
Mentally it wasn't so effortful since the process of learning to balance
was mostly subconscious. Emotionally it required some courage, but once
I'd resolved to do it, it was mostly fun and exhilarating, especially
when I felt I was beginning to get it.
This wasn't a lot of effort, was it?
But what was the unnecessary effort that I piled on top of this? Years
of delay. Holding back with utterly useless training wheels. Worrying
about falling and hurting myself. Feeling like I was missing out while
younger kids were out riding their bikes and having fun.
Do you see the difference between necessary effort and unnecessary effort?
It's not like I could just lie on my bed and expect to learn how to ride
a bike. That would have been easy, but would it have been less
effortful?
If you keep thinking about a goal and trying to get there with the
easiest approach you can find, is that really the path of least effort?
Or is it a path of energy-wasting self-delusion?
If you add up all the time and energy you've spent thinking about
quitting your job or trying to cut corners financially, is it possible
that it would have taken you less time and energy to start your own
business and make it successful?
Many people walk for miles in search of an elevator to avoid climbing the staircase in front of them.
Is it possible that you've been avoiding the true path of least effort by trying to take the seemingly easier path?
What Is Ease?
Is ease the same thing as avoidance? If you avoid all difficulty and
challenge, that may seem easier in the short run, but doesn't it end up
becoming more difficult in the long run?
Is it easier to develop the habit of spending a little less money each
day and being a little more ambitious about your career? Or is it easier
to overspend and sink into debt, waste a lot of extra money on interest
payments, and possibly go bankrupt or endure a foreclosure?
Is it easier to install positive health and lifestyle habits when you're
young, or is it easier to drag yourself around with low energy and
chaotic emotions, and then succumb to a lifestyle disease such as
cancer?
Notice that the path of least effort is not the path of no effort.
Usually by trying to take the path of no effort, you'll end up taking a
path of much greater effort in the long run.
Some level of challenge is good and healthy for you. The path of ease is
not the path of laziness. It's the path of getting stronger, so your
daily challenges feel lighter.
Your biggest problem isn't the difficulty of the tasks before you. The
required work is doable. If you get busy doing the required work now,
you won't waste energy on unnecessary effort by piling on worry,
complaining, and avoidance behavior.
Loving Physical Effort
To stop resisting physical effort, see it as exercise. It's healthy physical training. It can make you stronger and fitter.
I'm currently starting week 4 of P90X, which is a popular 13-week cross-training fitness program. It's also really challenging.
The daily workouts require some serious physical effort. But they don't
require worry, procrastination, and excuses -- that would be wasted
effort.
When you do the required work and drop the unnecessary work, physical
training is tough but still doable. You can endure an hour of rapid
breathing and sweating. You can endure collapsing onto a couch
afterwards. You can endure soreness. But you don't have to endure your
own fabricated inner resistance to the difficulty of the challenge.
Hard physical exertion can be very rewarding. It's nice to feel stronger
in my body. It's nice to be more flexible. It's nice to record 8 reps
on an exercise one week, then 12 the next week, then 20 the week after
that. It's nice to know that a month from now, I'll be stronger and more
flexible than I am now. It's nice to know that no matter how difficult
it is, I can always do my best, and that's always enough.
It's even nice to graduate to heavier weights on various exercises,
knowing that it's going to mean an even more challenging workout than
the one that killed me the week before.
It's wonderful to see the clock hitting 0:00 at the end of a workout, knowing that I made it through.
Is it possible that the path of least resistance when it comes to
fitness is to pick one of the toughest workouts you can do, to commit to
it, and then to fall in love with the difficulty of it?
Is it harder to do difficult physical training and enjoy the results
thereof? Or is it harder to avoid such training and watch your fitness
decline over time? Which one is really the path of least resistance? Is
it possible that "least resistance"" is an invitation to stop resisting
hard work and just go do it without complaining or making excuses?
Loving Mental Effort
What's the benefit of mental effort? You get smarter and sharper.
Your brain grows through exercise just like any other part of your body.
If you avoid mental effort, you can look forward to a life of
progressive dullness and dim-wittedness. The avoidance of mental effort
is one of the leading causes of Alzheimer's. If you work your brain, it
will likely stay strong throughout your life, but if you fail to
exercise it with hard challenges, it will atrophy and grow weaker. How
much you exercise your brain can have a major impact on your long-term
quality of life.
Tackling difficult mental work also gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Your confidence rises. You enjoy some pep in your step and feel
terrific. You flow through each day with passion and high energy.
I could have putzed around doing nothing today, but to me it's least
effortful to get to work. Create something. Share something of value.
It's good exercise for my brain. It keeps me feeling sharp and alert.
Want to feel more motivated? Then take action even when you aren't
motivated. Motivation follows action. You'll feel motivated when you get
into the flow of action. Not taking action is demotivating. Not taking
action is harder because it leaves you feeling tired, listless, and
stuck. It's easier to keep moving. Of course, taking action when you
aren't motivated is hard. It takes effort. If you think that's a bad
thing, i.e. something to be avoided, that's why you're stuck. Move
towards effort and difficulty, not away from it, and you'll soon be back
in the flow of grace, ease, and lightness. By staying still you're
actually choosing the path of much greater resistance and effort. It's
so much harder to watch people pass you by, achieve their goals, and
leave you wallowing in the dust of long-term regret. If you can stomach
that, you're a brave soul indeed!
One way people mistakenly avoid the path of least resistance is by
getting stuck in analysis paralysis. Because they don't want to waste
mental effort, they hesitate to get moving. Instead of actively working
on a project, they think about working on it, but they don't make any
meaningful progress.
What's funny is that it's actually easier to dive in and work like crazy
on a project than it is to fret, fuss, delay, and worry about it. For
instance, it's so much easier to quit your job and start a new business
than it is to think about quitting your job and wonder about starting a
new business. The former tasks can be done in a day. But people often
waste years on the latter, with nothing to show for it.
When you resist hard mental work, you're wasting energy feeding that
resistance. But when you let go of that unnecessary resistance and just
do the required work, you'll likely find that such efforts are enjoyable
and rewarding. Tackling challenges feels great!
Why avoid something just because it's hard? Instead of equating hard
with avoidance, try equating hard with arousal and stimulation. When
you're ready to be aroused and stimulated, hard is a good thing. ;)
Loving Emotional Effort
What about challenges that require emotional effort, such as doing something that scares you?
Again, try separating the required effort from the unnecessary effort.
What may be required is a few seconds of courage. That may be all you
need to get moving and build momentum.
You may not be able to control all the emotional conflict that wells up
within you, but you needn't resist it either. You may endure some
nervousness or fussiness about a particular social or emotional
challenge, but if that's the case, then wouldn't the path of least
resistance be to get through it quickly and without delay? Why endure
years of anxiety and procrastination over something you can do today?
Many people avoid public speaking. They get nervous and anxious just
thinking about it. And most likely if you don't have much experience,
you will get nervous. There are techniques to help minimize that, but if
you don't resist the nervousness, then you don't even need those
techniques. Some of the best and most experienced speakers I know still
get nervous before they speak. But they've learned not to resist those
feelings. They just accept that they're going to feel that way. And this
helps transform their nervous energy into excitement and passion when
they get up and speak. And they do fabulously well.
It's okay to be scared, nervous, or worried. Those aren't feelings you
have to avoid. If you stop resisting those feelings, you can begin to
see them as excitement, just as a kid feels excited to go to Disneyland.
When you release your resistance to certain emotions you perceive as
negative, you can invite and experience a lot of fun on the other side.
What's the path of least resistance here? Is it easier to avoid doing
what scares you and always wonder "What if?" Wouldn't it be simpler to
just do it right away and get it over with?
The word courage comes from the Latin word
cor, which means
heart. Courage is heart-centeredness. Courage is also part of the path
of least resistance. When you wield courage, you stop resisting your
emotions. You stop using fear, shame, guilt, and worry as excuses for
not taking action. If those feelings are present, they can't stop you.
You can learn to fall in love with challenges that require emotional
effort. Instead of thinking that you should avoid what you fear, see
these challenges as desirable growth experiences.
It feels wonderful to face and conquer a fear. I love that I can
confidently get up and speak to any audience -- and have fun doing it --
especially when I remember how much I dreaded public speaking as a kid
in elementary school. I love that I've shared so much of my life online,
including stories that many people would rather keep private. I love
that I uncopyrighted my articles and donated them to the public domain.
Working through these fears leaves me free to do more research, writing,
speaking, and traveling. I don't have to waste my time and energy on
unnecessary efforts like protecting my privacy, fighting online piracy,
or worrying that someone on the Internet might not like me. By embracing
the required effort and turning towards my fears, I can slough off the
unnecessary emotional waste that would otherwise slow me down and drain
my energy.
Which is easier in the long run? Face a fear now and deal with a short
burst of wild emotions, or avoid it indefinitely and endure decades of
regret? Which is truly the path of least effort?
Fall in Love with Hard Work
The Law of Least Effort isn't telling you to shun physical training,
dodge mental challenges, and hide from all your petty fears. It's simply
an invitation to stop fighting with yourself in your own mind.
At the start of some of the toughest P90X workouts, Tony Horton says to
"Get your mind right." This is a reminder to focus on the task at hand.
Even though the workouts are very tough, it's important that you don't
psyche yourself out in advance and make excuses to quit if you want
results. Put your attention on the present moment and do the immediate
task or exercise to the best of your ability. Don't get hung up worrying
about how difficult the challenge will be. And don't worry about the
long-term results you may or may not achieve. Just do the required task.
Take it one set, one rep at a time.
Tony also likes to say, "Do your best, and forget the rest." If you do
your best, that's enough. And you can always do that much. With this
attitude you really can't fail.
If you do your best and drop the inner resistance, you'll make gains. If
you tackle physical challenges, you'll get stronger and fitter. If you
tackle mental challenges, you'll get smarter and sharper. If you tackle
emotional challenges, you'll become braver and happier. Is that
effortful? Perhaps. But if you get your vibe right and stop resisting
this type of work, you'll transform that effort into growth, joy, and
fun.
Does it take effort to have fun in life? Again, perhaps it does. But
when you're having fun and loving your life, will you even care about
the effort? Will you even notice it? Or will you be too absorbed in the
fun to fuss over how much action you had to take?
Surrender to effort. Embrace the required work. Drop the unnecessary
resistance, including the fairy tale fantasy of no effort. This is the
real path of least effort.
If you really get this, you may recognize that the Law of Least Effort
and the Law of Hard Work are in fact the same law. They're both equally
correct.
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