The Effort Paradox
Putting in effort may feel like crap but there's a reason why it's worth it
I watched this movie called Serenity, directed by Joss Whedon, almost 15 years ago.
Back then, I was probably too young to understand what the real implication of this movie was and maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it as much.
Had I watched it today, the message would have hit home instantly.
Serenity follows the crew of the transport ship Firefly as they uncover a government cover-up about Miranda, a planet where an experiment meant to make life effortless erased people’s drive to live and accidentally created the savage Reavers.
The government authority on that planet was called the Alliance.
The Alliance secretly pumped the “pacifying” drug G‑23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate (Pax) into Miranda’s air to eliminate aggression, but the experiment backfired: 99.9 % of the 30 million colonists became so miserable from the lack of drive in their lives that they lay down and died, while the remaining 0.1 % had the opposite reaction becoming violently psychotic, and terrorizing the planet as the Reavers.
The Firelfy crew travels to that planet to uncover the truth and bring balance.
The film argues, through that catastrophe, that stripping humanity of struggle and stakes hollows us out turning comfort into curse rather than a blessing.
The Alliance believed aggression was the root of all social problems, that’s why they introduced the drug to engineer permanent calm. By stripping away the full emotional spectrum (frustration, ambition, risk), they also removed purpose.
On Planet Miranda, the absence of struggle led to complete motivational collapse.
Citizens stopped eating, parenting, or even finishing sentences. The movie emphasizes the idea that comfort without challenge causes a lack of purpose.
Without effort, there’s no satisfaction. (Ironic?)
The film doesn’t glorify suffering per so but it gives a subtle warning that erasing life of difficulty erases the spark that makes it worth living.
This essay is also not meant to tell you to suffer, that would be stupid.
But I want to write it to express myself, and explain why all the good things in my life have come at the end of some bit of suffering and discomfort.
This is what’s called THE EFFORT PARADOX.
It means that we tend to avoid putting in the pain of effort, but still want the end result.
But avoiding the effort to chase a life without some struggle actually make us less satisifed in general and deflates us.
There lies the paradox.
Just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.
That being said, the reverse is also true:
Just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it should be done.
The Effort Paradox in my writing routine:
Take the example of writing.
As easy as it may look, writing is really hard.
It’s a skill I have to keep working on.
It doesn’t get easier but I get better by putting in consistent effort. And I make sure it’s something I enjoy.
Getting past the pain of writing and putting in the effort has opened up opportunities for me personally and professionally.
Writing with AI is easier. But that doesn’t mean I don’t use AI at all.
I use AI to improve my research process and help with grammar editing. If I completely outsourced the writing process to AI, it would defeat the purpose
Because I go through the effort of writing to sharpen my thoughts and force my brain to think harder about topics.
And this effort brings me satisication and not the act of just shooting out this blog post to you.
The Effort Paradox in my investing profession:
This dangerous paradox is also developing in my profession of investing.
With a single prompt, I can get an entire thesis on a company or fund I want to invest in. And I could easily go along with AI’s analysis rather than doing my own work of reading through the company’s financials, learning about a fund’s management style, or understanding a company’s leadership. Whatever the variable, skipping the effort is tempting.
AI helps me reduce the time I need to skim through large, unnecessary chunks of information. It even gives me a better direction for my research process.
But it still requires me to put in the effort. To understand the business model of the company, how it has performed through the years, and what my opinion is on the underlying investment.
This skill is developed over time by putting in years of effort.
The Effort Paradox in reading and working out:
I learned a lot about this paradox from Michael Easter’s book The Comfort Crisis.
Easter mentions a study that says only 2% of people take the stairs instead of the escalator. But 100% of people know that taking the stairs would be better for their health and wellbeing. Still, 98% choose the easier option one that could actually hurt them in the long run.
I know, some smartasses reading this are probably thinking:
"I can take the escalator and still be healthy.”
But if you’ve read the essay till now, you know that wasn’t the point :)
Living better in modern life requires us to do the slightly uncomfortable things. The ones available to us in broad daylight. You can apply this analogy to many different parts of your life.
This effort paradox shows up every day for me and I think most of us.
Take the example of the gym or exercise.
No one ever regretted going to the gym. But almost everyone has regretted not going.
It's the same with hard things in life. No one wants to do them.
But no one ever regrets having done them.
Similarly, no one ever regretted putting in the effort to read a book. But almost everyone has regretted not reading one.
That being said not everything in life requires effort, especially if there’s an easier and smarter way.
Technology has been a blessing in that sense:
I don’t need to walk a mile to fill a jug of water like my ancestors. I can just fill it through my water filter.
I don’t need to do my laundry by hand if a machine can do it better.
I can order something from quick commerce at my doorstep for convenience if it is too far away and as long as I don’t turn this quick commerce ordering into a regular habit.
I could go on with examples, but you get the point.
Whatever can be automated should be automated. If it lies outside the framework of meaningful effort. Otherwise, we’re just putting in effort for the sake of it.
But the truth is there are certain things in life that only bring meaning because we put in the effort.
Alex Hormozi has a great quote that fits the theme of this essay:
“People chase the fireworks rather than the cold furnace, which takes time to heat but the cold furnace heats for longer.”
Conclusion
I took effort to make this blog post and put various thoughtss together.
Through this effort, I understood gaps in my thinking, edited unnecessary parts of the essay, and got an idea of my level of understanding.
I used AI to help me improve my punctuation and grammar once I was done with the effort of pieceing and writing the entire essay.
There were moments where I felt pain in the writing of this essay, as I do in the writing of all my essays in the past, but I always remind myself of how I feel at the other side of the effort, and it’s an awesome feeling, which always helps me to enjoy the process.
Relevant Reads from my blog:
Order my book today- The Health and Wealth Paradox
Very well written and expressed!
Awesome Writing!