The coronavirus pandemic forced most of us to stay home – suddenly there was an official reason to enjoy idleness and not feel guilty about it. What could be better, it seemed? But for some reason, we didn’t really like it.
You may have seen a short video clip commissioned by the California Governor’s Office. Comedian Larry David, with his trademark sardonic sense of humor, urged everyone to follow the official advice and stay home to stop the spread of Covid-19. “What’s wrong with you idiots?” he said, “You’re missing a fantastic opportunity to sit comfortably in a chair and watch TV all day!” We’re used to being encouraged to do things we don’t really want to do: spend more time exercising, eat five, eight or even ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day… But this time, the official recommendation, it seemed, sounded tempting: make yourself comfortable on the couch, watch your favorite series, the main thing is not to leave the house. This should appeal to the lazy person in all of us! In reality, however, things were far from simple, as you found out when you were locked up for long weeks.
So it turns out that we are not naturally programmed to do as little as possible? Yes, we often tend to choose the easiest option, the path of least resistance, the shortest and easiest way. If you have a remote control in your hand, why get up and change the channel on the TV yourself? If you have a car, why ride your bike to the store? If you can do half the work of your colleague and still make the same amount of money, why bother? Any work, any effort, requires physical and mental effort, so perhaps it makes sense to avoid it? And sometimes we do just that. This phenomenon is known as the principle of least effort (of all possible reactions, the organism prefers to choose the one that requires the least effort from it). It seems that no one can think of breaking this law? Yet we violate it all the time.
As the weeks of lockdown have shown, we are not meant to do as little as possible. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what will happen next. The number of offers should remain: episodes. End of story Podcast advertising
Have you ever dreamed of doing absolutely nothing? Like lying in a hammock all day? Staring at the ceiling and listening to the silence? At first this may seem like a great idea, but in practice we are faced with the fact that doing nothing is very, very difficult (except for the time we spend sleeping). In a famous study conducted a few years ago at the University of Virginia (USA), participants were led one by one into a completely empty room where nothing could distract or attract their attention. They had no telephone, no books, no television. They were not even allowed to take a nap. Electrodes were attached to each person’s ankles. And before you leave the participant alone for 15 minutes, you tell him that he can relax and rest. But if you press this button, he will be shocked. You probably thought no one would press the button if you were alone, right? But no. In fact, 71% of men and 25% of women have given themselves an electric shock at least once, and one man did it… 190 times. As it turned out, doing nothing was such a torture that many preferred to entertain themselves in any way possible with an electric discharge. This experiment is certainly extreme, but we know from everyday life that people often do things that are not necessary. Including things that are quite painful for themselves. Think about your friends who run marathons. Or work out on the machines at the gym. What they do is not necessary to maintain health. And what about those who cross the icy desert on their way to the Pole? Or a solo circumnavigation on a yacht? Michael Inglis of the University of Toronto calls this the paradox of effort. Yes, sometimes we choose the easiest way, but sometimes we value a situation much more highly if it requires significant effort on our part. The realization of this effort, the overcoming of ourselves, gives us such pleasure that we refuse the easy way. We can spend hours on a difficult crossword puzzle instead of just searching for answers on Google. We’re taught this from childhood: you can’t catch a fish from a pond without effort, you don’t get rewards without effort. And over time, the effort itself, the process, gives us pleasure. Scientists call this acquired diligence.
Once, over 20 years ago, I traveled the world with a backpack on my back, and fate brought me to the Indonesian island of Flores, home to the amazing crater lakes of Kelimutu, which change color every few years. It looks mysterious and impressive at the same time.
Today, many mountain peaks can be reached without much effort, but for many people it is important to make the effort to experience the joy of conquest. However, the reason why the trip was so memorable for me is not only because of the beauty of the lakes. It is also because of the amount of effort it took me and my companion to reach our destination. For several days, we traveled by boat and bus. But what stands out are the few hours we spent in a small van, jumping on a rough and windy road, when the passengers had to distribute hygiene packages like in an airplane (which were then thrown out of the window)… Then came the night in a stuffy and smelly hostel room with lumpy mattresses and cockroaches, and then at dawn at 4am – another minibus for the final push to the lakes… On the way to Kelimutu, we had to endure some hardships – but it was all part of a new, exciting experience. Then it turned out that not far from the lake observation point there is a helicopter pad where, as we understood, richer tourists are delivered. But we didn’t envy them. Will they appreciate the beauty of the lakes as much as we do? Probably not.
Nowadays, many mountain peaks can be reached by cable car or chairlift. However, real climbers prefer to spend the night in a tent on the side of the mountain, freezing and risking frostbite, rather than blend in with the crowds of ordinary tourists. Behavioral economist George Loewenstein called his work on this syndrome “Because it exists,” using the famous mountaineer George Mallory’s answer when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. Lowenstein explains that people can’t resist the chance to achieve a difficult goal, to learn how to deal with a challenging situation, even when they don’t really need to. And if you can’t put yourself in the shoes of a mountaineer and imagine the joy of overcoming the difficulties of climbing, most people are familiar with the “IKEA effect”: people value household items more if they have assembled them themselves.
When we first found ourselves in self-isolation, it may have seemed great to be idle for a few weeks, but in reality it can drive you crazy. Forced prolonged rest (unless we are sick and our organism requires it) does not produce a feeling of tranquility, but rather irritability and restlessness. And while we were sitting at home in lockdown, we had to make an effort to reproduce the rhythms and sense of balance of ordinary life.
In normal times, many of us do not take our own vacations seriously. For example, in physical exercise, set goals that require full effort, goals that are not easy to achieve. And spend more time on activities like drawing, gardening, or solving puzzles – it’s engrossing, absorbing, puts you in a so-called flow, you just don’t notice how quickly time flies… And don’t worry about anything else. Normally, many of us don’t take our own vacations seriously. But during this exceptional time, it would be worthwhile to take advantage of the opportunity to rest more than usual – and then, when normal life returns, to maintain a delicate balance between relaxation and busyness. This difficult time shows that, first of all, we are not naturally lazy creatures. And second, sometimes it takes much more effort to work less and rest more.
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Claudia Hammond – author of “The Art of Rest: How to Find Relaxation in the Modern World”.
You can read the original article on the BBC Future website.