How strong is your work ethic? The law of least effort refers to the ability of human beings to devote the least possible resources to making a profit . It is also one of the 7 spiritual laws of successful people described by the Indian writer and lecturer Deepak Chopra.

Like every spiritual law, following the words of Chopra, the law of minimum effort is an immutable law . This means that, if it is applied in the right way, it tends always to be fulfilled.

What exactly is the law about minimum effort?

When you are in a situation where you have several paths available but can only travel one, the path you will choose will be the one that involves the least expenditure of energy (in terms of time, physical effort or investment, for example).

The law of minimum effort is not bad, because optimizes our efforts towards the goals we have set. Therefore, it is not that it predisposes us to inaction, but that it leads us to act in a much more intelligent and efficient way.

A kind of ‘Ockham knife’ applied to our daily life

I’m sure you’ve noticed that as you become more experienced and mature, you find easier ways to meet your daily needs and solve some problems that used to take up much more of your time and energy.

The Ockham’s razor is a philosophical principle that explains that, when two theories on equal terms have the same consequences, the simplest theory is the one most likely to be correct .

Well, the law of minimum effort is quite similar. In our daily lives, we prefer the easy to the complex, and tend to try to do more with less.

To better understand the psychological mechanisms that lead us to prefer the law of minimum effort over another posture, we will reflect on these five essential points .

1. Escape from trouble

It is normal that life is not a bed of roses and that we encounter obstacles, problems and difficulties of all kinds every day. But when you are unable to overcome these obstacles, you are doing something wrong .

If your life is a constant race of obstacles and disappointments, you are probably investing a lot of effort and getting pyrrhic results. This will lead to a sense of frustration, and will not allow you to connect with your Flow State.

When you’re obsessed with something, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed and stressed. These psychological signals warn you that you are pushing the situation too hard . One of the major factors of anxiety is precisely this permanent state of exhaustion caused by not understanding the law of minimum effort.

Golden rule : not by trying much harder than others you will get more benefits than those who don’t work as hard as you do. Why? You must take into account the concept of productivity. The more inspired and efficient your ideas are about how to get something done, the higher your productivity will be and the less effort you will need to achieve the same goals .

2. May inspiration find you working… or not

Be patient when you want to get results. If you act too quickly to achieve your goals, you may not be able to connect with the task at hand and you may become stressed. Any action that is motivated by a good dose of inspiration will be more effective, because it will allow you to flow and free you from some of the vices that come with mechanical thinking.

If you find yourself in a bad state of mind (exhausted, frustrated or lacking in ideas), simply don’t act. Change your environment, disconnect and you will start to regain positive energy. Once you are recharged, you will notice how it is easier for your thoughts to flow and your productivity increases.

There are times when the environment in which we move exhausts us physically and intellectually, and this leaves us in a bad position when it comes to making decisions and solving problems. If we are talking about a relationship or a work objective, you should rest and recuperate through distractions that have nothing to do with your main purpose . The key to regaining productivity is not to go crazy by working hard, but to know how to dose yourself and feel good about yourself.

Another important thing to achieve your goals is to let your creative personality fly. Creativity is a great ally when it comes to performing the simple but most effective movements. I bet you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by something important, and decided to disconnect by going for a walk in the city. Just then, ureka! , a solution comes to mind. It’s also good to let your brain rest so that it can reorganize the information you’ve been receiving during the day.A good night’s sleep can almost automatically give you a clear view of things.

However, to be creative you only have to follow these tips and reconnect with the good vibrations .

3. Think differently

If you are obsessed with trying to get results with a method that fails over and over again, you have two options: stay the same and check a thousand times that your method doesn’t work, or accept that you are wrong and change the approach you take to the situation .

Once you have accepted the mistake, you are able to rethink the situation and open windows that allow you to broaden your perspective.

The five steps to get your mind flowing are as follows:

A) Try to complain less and try not to blame others

B) Accept the situation as it is and try to understand it as best as possible

C) Place yourself in a position that allows you to see the problem in the third person

D) Stay open to other possibilities and options that you did not contemplate

E) Give inspiration and creativity a chance

4. When you enjoy what you do, you find better solutions

A concept that has appeared several times throughout this post is that of state of Flow .

“Flow state: the state of mind of maximum motivation”

When you enjoy and are focused on the present moment and not on possible future benefits, that is when you flow . In this state, your work will drink from a much more developed inspiration , and you will be almost immune to fatigue, because your brain will be absorbed in the fun and constructive aspect of the task at hand.

To reach this level of intrinsic motivation , you must find a way to turn your work into a kind of game; it should never be a tedious and boring obligation. This does not mean that you should be carefree and irresponsible, but that you should be flexible in learning from your mistakes and improving the way you carry out your tasks. No one is born taught and we all have the right to make mistakes. The important thing is that you experiment, have a good time and are able to find options full of creativity in your daily life.

5. Practice meditation or mindfulness

The meditation and the Mindfulness are philosophies that allow you to have better control over your emotions, and therefore a more lucid mind prepared to face the day-to-day with positivity.

Here are two links so you can go deeper into these two disciplines from which you can learn a lot: also to rationalize efforts and find the way to be more productive with less effort.

“Benefits of meditation backed by science”

“Mindfulness: 8 benefits of full attention”

Some conclusions

The final trick is to do things from the game and not from obligation and that does not mean irresponsibility, it means flexibility to allow mistakes, failures, criticisms and above all breaks . You are not here to make things perfect, you are here to learn by experimenting, enjoying and applying new creative options.

Learning to apply the law of least effort is a matter of will. You must get rid of some limiting beliefs and let go of emotional baggage and negative states of mind. On this path, you will notice that acting only on the essential things can be enough to have a happy life.

By applying this law you can achieve your goals with less effort. Because sometimes less is more .