How do we design a world where it’s easy to do what’s right?
James Clear, Atomic Habits
Every philosopher who has considered questions of morality and ethics has wrestled with some version of this question: how do I do what is right? As is often the case in philosophy, though, this question begs further questions— what is right? How do I know?
Clear takes this one step further: once I know what is right and how to do it, how can I make it easy?
Human nature favors ease over difficulty. This is intuitively demonstrated in how we live our lives. Have you ever wanted something, decided it would be too much work, and changed course? Everyone has. This is not laziness— laziness doesn’t exist— but rather the outcome of efficiency processes in our brain.
As with most human behaviors, evolution is the culprit. Ancient humans had to go long periods of time in between hunts, so they would conserve energy in repose for much of their days. The hustle and bustle of modern life is a recent development, the outcome of industrial society constantly “improving” efficiency. When we prioritized efficiency of society, we gave up our own independent efficiency for the greater benefits of modern life (improved life expectancy, technological advancements, and other related products of collaboration).
Society notwithstanding, the efficiency impulse remains the same. This is why we can so easily get sucked into social media or television. The input effort is low and the reward is high. This principle, though, can be applied to morality— we must focus on designing a world where it’s easy to do what is right and challenging to do what is wrong. In many cases, we can take the active choice out of our hands and automate the process.
The Roman Statesman and philosopher Cicero said “virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.” The operative word here is habit. It implies automation. Doing and being good, then, is a result of training habitual processes by which good takes place. And one of the best ways to continue a habit is to make it easy. Increase ease or reduce resistance; both will result in progress. Addition through addition or, as Clear writes, “addition through subtraction.”
Take this example: you want to spend time reflecting. Therefore, you should construct an environment, including all required instruments, to encourage and facilitate this reflection. Buy a journal and put it on your desk with a pen on top of it. Next time you go to do it, all you will have to do is open and write. This increases the ease of a new habit.
But how to reduce resistance from virtue? Think about the obstacles that are easy excuses for preventing progress. For example: you want to feel more secure in yourself, to be your own witness. What are the obstacles to that process— what can be removed? Asking for advice when you know what you already want, allowing negative comments on your social media page, posting to social media in the first place— all of these things can be subtracted from your decision-making process and self-reliance can fill its place.
Through this process, environmental design will lead to ease of habits, which leads to increased automation of virtue. In this way, you can remove the small but onerous barriers that halt progress before it really begins. By stacking these instances together, you can slowly renovate the landscape of your life and make changes that seem impossible.
Edited by Jeremy Harr and Abigail McKay Cherry
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