I've recently come across an idea developed by Robert Fritz in his 1984 book, The Path of Least Resistance.
Last year, I wrote about how our brains naturally conserve energy, avoid pain, and seek pleasure. Learning that made me feel a little better about not always following through on my goals. Who am I to go against my natural God-given inclinations, after all? Except, I knew there had to be more to the story.
That’s where the path of least resistance came into play. Just as water naturally flows down the path of least resistance, so do we when it comes to our behavior. Fritz has a theory of how we can get around this.
Basically, he teaches:
“Your life naturally flows along the ‘path of least resistance,’ determined by the underlying structures you've created-often unconsciously. Change the structure, and your results change.”
What we’ve all probably learned along the way is that discipline and motivation will only go so far. Over time, you will often find yourself returning to old habits, you know, the path of least resistance. Just like that water trickling down a stream, you find yourself rolling back to the habits you tried so hard to change.
Of course, this can be frustrating, and eventually you might even want to throw your hands up in defeat.
Except, this time don't. Give yourself a little grace, considering you are hard-wired to seek this path. You know, the old conserve energy, avoid pain, and seek pleasure thing.
Fritz teaches that structure can determine your behavior. Like a rubber band being stretched at both ends, you end up with structural tension between where you are and where you want to be.
If you can define both places clearly, you are more likely to accomplish your goals. You will be pulling more toward what you want, and like a stretched rubber band, releasing what you don't want.
However, if your life is driven more by habits that you keep breaking than by a structure you create, you will find yourself repeating these same patterns over and over again throughout the years.
Often, these structures focus more on what you don't want, not on what you really want to accomplish.
So what exactly is a creative structure? You need a specific result, an honest assessment of where you are now, and a type of structural tension to bridge the two. This is not motivation or positive thinking. It's actually the structure you set up that propels you toward your goal.
The first thing you need to do is to choose a clearly defined desired result. Don't fall for the old “I want to eat healthy” routine. It's just not specific enough to help you see results. This is called the primary choice.
Next, you need to be brutally honest about your current situation. However, this is not an opportunity to shame yourself. Just say it like it is. Your current state is not supposed to be your enemy. It's the other end of the structural tension you are setting up. Remember the rubber band?
Now you have both ends. Where you are and where you are going? This tension will be what pulls you forward. This is beyond motivation, which more often than not wanes.
At this point, you are ready to take actions that move you toward what you want. Instead of working on what fixes the problem, ask yourself what you can do to move forward. Now you are not just reacting. You are creating the life you really want.
When our goals are set only to fix a problem, we often get stuck, oscillating between the two ends of the rubber band. Once we begin to feel better, we find ourselves stopping because our brains like to take the path of least resistance, you know, conserving energy. That's when the cycle of starting and failing begins. Eventually, it gets harder and harder to start.
Unless you can change the structure, the cycle will continue, regardless of your willpower.
So, where does this creativity come about? It has to do with the decisions you make. These choices help give you the stability and direction you need. The energy to do so will be a consequence of your actions.
“You become the architect of your life rather than a manager of problems.”
Instead of changing habits, pushing harder, trying to be more motivated, you change the structure. Once you get the structure right, it's just like that trickle of water. The effort becomes more natural. You won't be pushing water uphill anymore—each action you take moves you closer to your result.
So how can you build a creative-life structure rather than a reactive one?
