Making the Essential Enjoyable & Easy
Making Monday
I've heard it said that how we feel on Mondays is one of the clearest indicators of life satisfaction. Here is a quick thought on how to make Monday—and every day—work better...
The 3E Change Model
January 16, 2023
We tend to do things that are essential, enjoyable, or easy.
If something MUST get done, we do it, no matter if we like it or not. If it's life and death or carries grievous consequences for neglect, we steel ourselves and find a way.
And we naturally gravitate toward doing things we enjoy. We find them fulfilling in the act itself. That enjoyment is itself adequate motivation.
And we just “knock out” easy things. These have low perceived effort and typically have a convenience factor and a known process for completion.
If there is something we wish to bring about in our lives, we can harness these natural tendencies using what I call the 3E Change Model.
Using this model is a way to stop fighting with ourselves about doing the important things we want to accomplish.
It's like swimming with, rather than against, the stream of change.
We connect with essentiality by clarifying how taking action connects to our purpose and values. We can also raise awareness of the costs of neglect and how these costs jeopardize what is most important to us.
We shift our perspective on the activity and on ourselves, rewriting beliefs and judgments that sap our joy and energy for it. We can also bring creativity to deciding how we do it, with a bias toward maximizing enjoyment.
And we lean toward processes that enable ease. Increasing knowledge, skills, abilities, enlisting support, adequate prep and structure—these are just some of the ways to make things easier.
When these 3Es overlap—essential, enjoyable, easy—we find what I call Perpetual Activation. It's as if we crank up a perpetual motion machine that then fuels itself using its own internally generated energy.
And when Perpetual Activation kicks in, the fight is over, and the pace of positive change astounds.
Together, let's end the fight to change...
Delmar
