Energy vs Effort
We are all very busy going nowhere
We do not have unlimited internal capacity to take care of all the demands made of us. However, there are two different measures of that capacity. One is the energy we have available and the other is the effort we can make.
These sound very similar and they are certainly related. Both imply a sense of drawing from an finite resource and thus the need to focus on some things and not on others.
The difference is that energy is related to action, while effort is related to willpower.
Putting energy into something means doing something out in the world, it is a physical thing. It draws from your overall capacity for action, what you are able to spend your time doing. So the more energy you spend on one activity the less you are able to spend on another activity.
It is independent of our actual desires, sometimes the things we put energy into are the things we desire or are good for us and sometimes not. Energy is an external thing.
Putting effort into something means forcing ourselves to do something but it’s not necessarily physical. It draws from your capacity for willpower: the more effort it takes to force yourself to go down one path, the less you are able to force yourself to go down another path.
Effort is about overcoming our natural tendencies, living as sentient beings engaged with our lives rather than as intelligent animals being driven by instinct and emotion. Effort is an internal thing.
The key difference is intentionality, making a conscious decision as to what to focus on vs just falling into action. Energy can happen automatically as we go about our lives, effort takes conscious thought and decision making.
We put effort into some things and not others. We put energy into some things and not others. Often the things we really want to do require the most effort but we put in the least energy:
Low effort, Low energy — things are not intimidating to you but that you don’t spend that much time on either. Eating, hygiene, are examples of this. For most of us, this is the realm of survival in that we don’t actually have to put much energy into figuring out where we are going to eat or sleep.
High Effort, Low energy — Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to not do something. This combination is about overcoming bad habits. Avoiding doing those things that fritter our time away. Things that we know we shouldn’t be doing but are hard for us to stop partially because they are easy. Wasting time watching TV, eating junk food, youtube/reddit rabbit holes on the internet. This is the realm of developing our focus.
Low Effort, High energy — this unfortunately is where we tend to spend most of our time. It is the comfort of the familiar suck. The life of quiet desperation. You are really “busy” but on things that are distractions from what you really want to do. Or doing things that allow you to feel like there is a good reason you are procrastinating on doing the work of really following your dreams. This is a negative return. The energy we are spending is on things that are sinks, we get no return on our time or other investment. This is the realm of looking back and regretting.
High Effort, High Energy — this is where we want to be, where we are forcing ourselves to perform at our best, spending our time on activities we really care about. Paradoxically this is actually how we generate more energy. We are living our true lives and the energy we put into something is being returned to us fourfold. This is the realm of deep satisfaction and joy.
Writing this blog doesn’t take that much time or energy as compared with my daily work, family demands, etc. But it takes a lot of effort to force myself to do it. And every time I push through the bad habits to work on a post even a little bit, I feel better about myself. I feel more energized.
On the other hand, for most of us working hard at our jobs doesn’t take much effort because we are programmed to play a role. But we spend a lot of energy working, the majority of our adult waking lives. Our jobs often stress us out, but we accept that arbitrary stress as a necessity because we don’t want to face the discomfort of taking responsibility for our happiness, just in case we fail.
But how does this make sense? Isn’t it by definition that we do the things that we desire? Not quite. We do the things we want to do but those wants are not necessarily conscious. And the unconscious drivers behind those wants are not necessarily something that is aligned with our desires.
We do more to reduce discomfort than we do to increase comfort because the former feels like a necessity whereas the latter feels like a luxury. This is our turning our brains off and following the default path. Drifting with the flow and not making conscious decisions.
The result is that we spend the vast majority of our time and resources on things that take little effort but take a lot of energy.
Without effort our energy gets spent on things that are not necessarily leading us to satisfaction or happiness. Without conscious thought our energy ends up going towards fulfilling shortsighted animalistic ends/drives that lead to later regret.
If instead we put effort into our happiness, the energy will follow.
