As you become more skilled in a task, it’s demand for energy diminishes. Studies of the brain have shown that the pattern of activity associated with an action changes as skill increases with fewer brain regions involved.
It turns out, what is generally known as the “law of least effort” applies to cognitive as well as physical exertion. Many of you have often heard me express my belief that one cannot truly have a healthy mind if they do not have a healthy body, and vice versa. It is all one in the same.
The law if least effort asserts that if their are options for people, that they believe will lead to the same goal, people will initially gravitate to the least demanding course of action. Overtime, that individual will likely continue to slip further into the direction of the least demanding paths — even if taking those paths will make it impossible to ever attain the goals they initially set out for.
They literally reach a point of comfort that blinds them, rather gives them a sudden case of amnesia — and so, they forget the mountain they set off to climb. They forget their dreams.
In the economy of health and wellness, physical exertion and effort is the cost, and the acquisition of new skills (such as snatches, muscle ups, handstand walks etc.) is driven by the balance of benefits (healthier body) and costs (blood sweat and tears).
A bill that ought to be happily PAID daily.
Unfortunately it is just a fact that laziness is built deep within our nature.
Why?
Well, in short, it’s because promising opportunities once (mostly) meant improved chances of survival.
Today “opportunities” to have “fun” usually lead to heart disease and diabetes.
Remember our talk on how we are predisposed to seeking out sugar, because it once served as a quick source of energy?
Only today, those sources of quick fuel are largely linked to artificial garbage.
Quick fuel is easy.
Not putting in a conscious* effort is easy.
Which is why today’s talk is meant to shed light on some of the neurological reasons as to why this happens. Why some things are “easier” for some than they are for others — I’m actually better off saying “why some quit before others.”
The answer is, it is 100% neurological.
Only our tendencies shift in correlation to the ripples we make (refer to ripple talk post) - the waves we ride, which are dictated by the currents we’ve created.
In life, when we try to swim against these currents, the tide of our own ocean (life), we drown. It is our own doing. We want to reserve our health, and eat away at it too. Only, when those two worlds collide, you must choose, you have to be faithful to one.
I prefaced this “Did ya know” with a mentioning of how when you do things consistently, overtime on a neurological level, they become easier — they require less effort.
Which is to say, when you see someone else making some feat look “so easy” — it’s probably because to them, it probably is. Like a master chess player, or skilled pianist.
They’ve put in enough time, they’ve PAID their bills and so they now appear to be a master at that which they’ve become extremely efficient in doing. Mastery is efficiency.
The brain of an onlooker instantly thinks “wow that person must’ve put in a lifetime to be that good at that!” - we think “lifetime” and default to the easier path.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihali specializes in studying why some people can complete tasks over long periods of time without having to exert as much will power as others. A state of effortless attending, which he proposed be called “flow.”
People who experience “flow” describe it as a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose their sense of time, of themselves, and their problems (the gaps).
The takeaway?
Applaud yourself daily for your efforts. For paying your bill. It is not easy. However putting in an effort demands that circumstances NOT be easy. Remember that overtime, you don’t wish for easy, you’re wishing for efficiency.
Remind yourself of where you started, constantly reassure yourself you are getting better. You are becoming more efficient, in your training, your relationships.
Enjoy each day. Even your worst days.
Time flys when you’re having fun, and remember, go with the flow
• Cauliflower Flats w some local farm eggs
• RAW Apple banana broccoli bowl, w carrot
sticks, coconut, nuts, and flax “milk”
• Stuffed purple pepper (Tuna avocado mash)
w side chickpea vegetable salad (so good!)
