Productivity Activation Energy
#tovisualise #productivity
Let’s start with two proverbs:
il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte
and a variation by Piet Hein:
Il n’y a que le dernier pas qui coûte
They look contradictory, but only under the assumption that start and end are opposite. Turns out that this assumption isn’t justified, because the end of one thing is often the start of another. In a sense, start is end and end is start. It is thus the transition between two states that costs.
Like chemical reactions, some form of activation energy is required for the transition between the end of one thing and the start of another thing. This principle applies when switching between tasks or starting off a task. The will power needed to start working on something is essentially the activation energy. Once reached, the task itself will carry you forward towards its completion. Keeping this principle in mind might be a way to catalise transitions between starts and ends and thus reduce le coût du premier.
Motivation Trap seems to be another formulation of this problem.
Inspirations:
- Chemistry
- Hein, Piet, and Jens Arup. More Grooks. Hodder Paperbacks, 1969.