Scientific Definition
The minimum energy needed to start a reaction; same idea for starting habits or initiatives.
Plain-English Definition
The minimum energy needed to start a reaction; same idea for starting habits or initiatives.
Feynman Explanation
The hardest part is not the work. It is starting the work.
Core Principle
The minimum energy needed to start a reaction; same idea for starting habits or initiatives.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
The minimum energy needed to start a reaction; same idea for starting habits or initiatives.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Reduce friction for the first step of any new process or behavior.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The hardest part is not the work. It is starting the work.
Examples
- A gym membership is unused until clothes are laid out the night before.
- Reduce friction for the first step of any new process or behavior.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Pre-stage the first two minutes of every important task.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Pre-stage the first two minutes of every important task.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Time is fixed; energy is not. Manage the renewable.
The brain minimizes effort by default — most cognition is on cruise control.
People, tasks, and inputs that quietly drain disproportionate energy relative to value returned.
The mind can be socially influenced toward conclusions that bypass scrutiny.
The deepest level of listening — where new possibility emerges that neither party brought into the room.
Rick Hanson: 'Velcro for negative, Teflon for positive.' The brain encodes threats faster and stickier than rewards.
New neurons are formed in the adult brain, especially the hippocampus.
Mental rehearsal pattern: see yourself doing the new behavior, refine, step in, run it kinesthetically until it's natural.
Approach motivation — pursuit of rewards and goals.
Combining substances to create a new material stronger than its parts.
Systems that gain from disorder.
Avoidance motivation — sensitivity to punishment, uncertainty, and threat.