THE SHAPE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
FIGURE 13: The primary axis of Europe and Asia is east-west. The primary axis of the Americas and Africa is north-south. This leads to a wider range of climates up-
and-down the Americas than across Europe and Asia. As a result, agriculture spread nearly twice as fast across Europe and Asia than it did elsewhere. The behavior of
farmers—even across hundreds or thousands of years—was constrained by the amount of friction in the environment.
By comparison, the climate varies greatly when traveling from north to
south. Just imagine how different the weather is in Florida compared to
Canada. You can be the most talented farmer in the world, but it won’t help
you grow Florida oranges in the Canadian winter. Snow is a poor substitute
for soil. In order to spread crops along north-south routes, farmers would
need to find and domesticate new plants whenever the climate changed.
As a result, agriculture spread two to three times faster across Asia and
Europe than it did up and down the Americas. Over the span of centuries,
this small difference had a very big impact. Increased food production
allowed for more rapid population growth. With more people, these cultures
were able to build stronger armies and were better equipped to develop new
technologies. The changes started out small—a crop that spread slightly
farther, a population that grew slightly faster—but compounded into
substantial differences over time.
The spread of agriculture provides an example of the 3rd Law of
Behavior Change on a global scale. Conventional wisdom holds that
motivation is the key to habit change. Maybe if you really wanted it, you’d
actually do it. But the truth is, our real motivation is to be lazy and to do
what is convenient. And despite what the latest productivity best seller will
tell you, this is a smart strategy, not a dumb one.
Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever
possible. It is human nature to follow the Law of Least Effort, which states
that when deciding between two similar options, people will naturally
gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.
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For
example, expanding your farm to the east where you can grow the same
crops rather than heading north where the climate is different. Out of all the
possible actions we could take, the one that is realized is the one that
delivers the most value for the least effort. We are motivated to do what is
easy.
Every action requires a certain amount of energy. The more energy
required, the less likely it is to occur. If your goal is to do a hundred push-
ups per day, that’s a lot of energy! In the beginning, when you’re motivated
and excited, you can muster the strength to get started. But after a few days,
such a massive effort feels exhausting. Meanwhile, sticking to the habit of
doing one push-up per day requires almost no energy to get started. And the
less energy a habit requires, the more likely it is to occur.
Look at any behavior that fills up much of your life and you’ll see that it
can be performed with very low levels of motivation. Habits like scrolling
on our phones, checking email, and watching television steal so much of
our time because they can be performed almost without effort. They are
remarkably convenient.
In a sense, every habit is just an obstacle to getting what you really want.
Dieting is an obstacle to getting fit. Meditation is an obstacle to feeling
calm. Journaling is an obstacle to thinking clearly. You don’t actually want
the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habit delivers. The
greater the obstacle—that is, the more difficult the habit—the more friction
there is between you and your desired end state. This is why it is crucial to
make your habits so easy that you’ll do them even when you don’t feel like
it. If you can make your good habits more convenient, you’ll be more likely
to follow through on them.
But what about all the moments when we seem to do the opposite? If
we’re all so lazy, then how do you explain people accomplishing hard
things like raising a child or starting a business or climbing Mount Everest?
Certainly, you are capable of doing very hard things. The problem is that
some days you feel like doing the hard work and some days you feel like
giving in. On the tough days, it’s crucial to have as many things working in
your favor as possible so that you can overcome the challenges life
naturally throws your way. The less friction you face, the easier it is for
your stronger self to emerge. The idea behind make it easy is not to only do
easy things. The idea is to make it as easy as possible in the moment to do
things that payoff in the long run.
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