Human beings seek the paths that demand the least effort from them. Customers are examples of this principle. They want products delivered to them and prefer instant coffee and instant delivery.
One reason I find people rejecting too many choices is the extra work required to make a choice. They are always afraid to make the wrong choice and regret it later. This forces people to exercise extra work and violate the path of least effort.
Businesses that offer many choices confuse the customers and lose them.
The preference for taking the path of least effort is noticeable in many areas of our daily life.
- Readers who find the reading material hard to absorb with long sentences and complex words soon lose interest and abandon reading the material.
- People tend to stop searching for more information when they have what they think is enough for them. They abide by the path of least effort.
- Applications that require the least effort are the most successful such as Uber and Netflex.
- Electric cars are acceptable not only because they save money but also because they offer the least effort path. They hardly need maintenance as compared to conventional cars.
“One pitfall of preferring the least effort path is the tendency to fall into assuming. Assumptions are easy to make, as people tend to accept them without the effort of verifying them.”
An employee arrives late to work and his manager assumes he is lazy. Upon arrival, the employee receives a warning. In one real example, the employee had to bury his son and still reported late to work. The manager put himself in an embarrassing situation.
The long-held assumption that all systems are linear without having solid proof proved wrong.
In one of the recent wars, I read that a senior militant said after losing the war that he expected the enemy to attack them from the east and not from the west. Imagine putting the fate of a country on an invalid assumption. The tendency to take the path of least effort can have devastating effects.
A student assumes that the exam will focus on certain chapters. He studies only those chapters without giving attention to the remaining ones. This tendency to fall into the trap of least effort cost him dearly because the exam focused on the chapters that he did not study.
Assumptions require the least effort now, but this tendency can cost us dearly. This is an example of seeking comfort that leads to the greatest failures and disappointments.
I am sure the readers have many more examples to share.
Another important food for thought.
I find this propensity for minimum effort interesting because it is intertwined today with the problem of information overload and new information technologies. In contemporary society, research, access and management of information require the mastery of complex tools. When we have to carry out targeted searches, a double effort is required of us: the transition from passive information seeking strategies to active strategies; the acquisition of specific technical skills.
Furthermore, some of our “expensive” routines affect our actions and, more importantly, our thinking. Without realizing it, we end up living according to rigid patterns, in which we feel trapped. This is where the law of least effort can help us choose more constructive and effective paths. And, the important aspect of this perspective is that it focuses on creativity and pleasure. We can also introduce habits that push us to be more resourceful and think more about our well-being. Choosing the easier path makes us better and allows us to achieve much more appreciable results.
An extremely valid and important comment Aldo Delli Paoliv
You raise an important finding “Without realizing it, we end up living according to rigid patterns, in which we feel trapped”.
I am glad you explained the positive side of least effort. It is in that laziness may drive us to search for creative processes that results in much lesser needed effort.
This is a valuable idea and I am grateful to you