Activation Energy

Concepts for Thriving
, ,
1

Activation Energy

Activation Energy describes the initial physical and emotional energy required to begin any activity that you want to engage in.

  • Knowing that starting anything takes some level of activation energy allows us not to be discouraged when we find ourselves stuck starting something. We are aware that we need to find a suitable form and degree of activation energy in order to begin.
  • Activation Energy is necessary for all of us to survive and to thrive. Cultivating its skillful use brings profound changes in our productivity and effectiveness.
  • Allows us to move forward into activities and relationships that are important to us and to others.
  • Encourages us to move toward engaging and participating in life rather than feeling overwhelmed and not in control.

I Just Can’t Get Fired Up to Take Action!

We do not expect matches to light on their own. To cause them to start burning, we must grab one and add energy—usually by “striking” the match against something with the right kind of friction.

Woosh!

Once burning, a single match can light many other materials and easily light other matches from its flame.

Yet, we expect to be “fired up” when we’re not moving any energy yet!

Resistance… is natural. We’re designed to conserve energy!

Still, we’ll flail around accusing ourselves of procrastinating when, all too often, we’ve not put in the Activation Energy necessary to get our inner fire going.

It’s often the first tiny action that gets the energy moving.

  • Is there a thought that moves you to take action…even a tiny, first action?
  • If you are ‘stuck’ on the couch, you might try moving just one finger… slowly, easily… then notice how that simple movement might change the feeling of ‘stuck’… and notice how other parts of you may feel more activation energy.
  • Change your posture.
  • Stand up.
  • Strike a match and light a candle. (Seriously. Do anything to change the energy of your space and light up your awareness.)

I Don’t FEEL Like It!

Of course not! You’re not activated yet!

We’re human beings. Our state of being rules. If we’re resting, it can even feel like we don’t even want to do something we know we’d enjoy! Isn’t that weird?

This concept of activation energy says that to go from resting to walking… requires energy. To go from watching TV to writing an email… requires a different energy. To go from doing the accounting to writing a story… you got it! Another type of energy — another state of being.

It’s a real skill to recognize the state of being we’re in. With that awareness, we can ask ourselves to tune to a state of being that is a better fit for what we would like to do (or would find relief from having done).

It’s easy to see this with kids when they are told it is time to go to bed, and they are clearly tired. But they have been running around. Switching to bedtime mode means activating a downshift.

Not all activation energy fires us up! We activate our rest and digest cycle in order to sleep. No matter how we’re shifting — up in energy expended or down — requires an activation within us.

The more savvy we get with consciously activating the matching state of being, the “I don’t feel like it” morphs into “I’m activating the energy to match up with that.”

Useful Questions

  • If I’m feeling overwhelmed by the thought of beginning something, is there a ‘baby step’ I can take that will generate some beginning momentum….?
  • What is a first step I can take that feels doable and also significant and meaningful in moving me toward my desired outcome?
  • What is the smallest/easiest step I can take that will move me in the direction I wish to go?

Resources

Related Concepts

Resistance, Inspired Action

Links

2 Likes
15

Thanks Rick…I’m glad that I was able to contribute… :slight_smile:

16

Added I Don’t Feel Like It example.

It feels quite imperfect, and yet it’s addition tonight fits exactly what I am saying.

  • I didn’t feel like writing tonight.
  • Knowing about activation energy, I focused on tuning myself into one of my “writer mode” – the soft, willing to show up version.

I let myself off the hook (tap tap) that the “super clear well-rested version” was not happening. Sometimes we just don’t have the flavor of activation energy to be in one state of being, but do have the energy to be in another compatible state.

1 Like
17

Good example of using this concept! :slight_smile:

18

image
image1470×484 47.4 KB

Our external environment can support (make easier) or restrict (make more challenging) to invoke activation energy.

It’s harder to light a match in the wind and rain – but not impossible.

Tune your environment (and Better Boundaries) to allow for activation energy to be generated and focused.

19

I like that development of the metaphor to include wind and rain…environmental conditions are seldom perfectly supportive of what we desire to undertake. Sometimes a journey is stalled while waiting for the weather to turn more favourable…so the winds propel the ship in the direction we wish to travel rather than sink it.
It seems to me that all our endeavors will be some kind of a dynamic interplay between resources (external environment) and resourcefulness (internal environment).

1 Like
20

image
image1440×1440 444 KB

1 Like
21

10 Ways to Get Started

  1. JUST start working for 2 minutes (without judging your work).
    Set a timer for 2 minutes and see what you can do before the timer expires. Just think: ‘I can quit in 2 minutes’ OR ‘the pain will stop in two minutes.’

  2. JUST list 5 bad ideas. Write down any 5 ideas that come to mind related to the task or problem you’re facing.

  3. JUST doodle for 2 minutes. JFK was a doodler. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and start doodling words or simple objects related to the problem you are struggling with.

  4. JUST mindmap for 2 minutes. Write down a word related to the task or problem in the center of a blank page. Now draw lines from that word to other related words that come to mind…soon you’ll have a
    map of ideas.

  5. JUST explain the situation for 2 minutes through writing. Explain in detail how your future-self has completed the task at hand – write fast and freely without editing your work.

  6. JUST explain the situation for 2 minutes through speaking. Get out your smartphone and use the voice memo app – hit record and describe the problem with as much detail as you can.

  7. When Reading: JUST scan the book/article for 2 minutes. Scan for anything you find interesting. Flip through pages of a book and feel free to start reading in the middle of the book if something catches your eye.

  8. When Writing: JUST write 1 ‘true’ sentence. Write down one sentence you know to be true about this subject. “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do
    is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”- Ernest Hemingway

  9. When Cleaning: JUST put away 3 things. Put away 3 dishes. Put away 3 binders. Hang up 3 pieces of clothing.

  10. When Exercising: JUST change in your workout clothes. After you put on your gym clothes it would be weird to change back into your other
    clothes without having worked out first :relaxed:

@nlozeron

22

image
image700×393 42.5 KB

The more difficult or complex a behavior, the higher the activation energy required to start it.

It’s why we K.I.S.S. - Keep It Super Simple

23

image

24

by @bpoppenheimer on X

I think about this twice a day.

Every morning when I sit down to read & again when I begin to work, I say to myself,

“Accept the initial agitation.”

When you try to focus, Andrew Huberman explains, “the brain circuits that turn on first are of the stress system.”

Meaning:

“The agitation and stress that you feel at the beginning of something—when you’re trying to lean into it and you can’t focus: you feel agitated and your mind’s jumping all over the place—that is just a gate. You have to pass through that gate to get to the focus component.”

There’s a common misconception, hubermanlab continues: “the misunderstanding around how these brain circuits work has led to this idea…a kind of obsession with the idea that we have to feel good in order to be productive.”

“And nothing could be further from the truth.”

The truth is it’s the reverse: we have to be productive—we have to start working, we have to lean in and get going, accepting the initial agitation—in order to feel good.

So along with “accept the initial agitation,” sometimes—when I don’t feel especially good, motivated, interested, or energized—I say to myself,

“Forget how you feel right now.”

“It will feel good,” Huberman says, “but there’s a whole staircase in which it feels kind of lousy…The early stages of hard work and focus are always going to feels like agitation, stress, and confusion.”

“Remember: there’s a gate of entry. You have to wade through some sewage before you can swim in clear water. That’s the way I always think about it.”

“Mood follows action.” — richroll

The clip is from Andrew’s 2020 interview on Rich’s podcast (https://youtu.be/SwQhKFMxmDY)

25

image
image1100×618 109 KB

Smaller habits require smaller activation energies and that makes them more sustainable. The bigger the activation energy is for your habit, the more difficult it will be to remain consistent over the long-run. When you require a lot of energy to get started there are bound to be days when starting never happens. - James Clear