The problem with making things easier
Because human behaviour isn't always rational. Chris struggles with the ability chain & offers an alternative.
Hello writing friends, Chris here this week.
In his book Alchemy ad man extraordinaire Rory Sutherland shares a story about an acquaintance who figured out something important about human nature. They worked in the marketing department of a theatre in London’s West End sending email campaigns to promote upcoming plays and musicals.
Some emails tempted buyers with heavily discounted ticket prices, while others simply described the production at full price. It seems obvious which campaign would sell more seats, doesn’t it? Except, it’s not obvious at all.
Over time, the marketing exec found that offering seats at a reduced price sold far fewer tickets than offering them at full price. Logic suggests that cheaper tickets should lead to more sales – but humans don’t reason like that. If you’re offered a discount, it’s easy to assume the theatre has plenty of spare tickets – maybe they’re trying to get rid of them?
That, in turn, might suggest that the production isn’t very good. After all, if it were a hit, why the discount? And since a night at the theatre involves shelling out on drinks, fancy food and travel, why gamble on a cut-price ticket for a show you might not enjoy? Better to pay full whack for something you’re sure is worth it. Human logic often isn’t logical – but it makes complete sense.
Predictably irrational
I share this story because it reveals something crucial about how we think: our decision-making isn’t always rational and friction isn’t always a problem to be solved. That is why I struggle with BJ Fogg’s Ability Chain idea, which Bec wrote about last week. To recap, Fogg is a behaviour change guru at Stanford University. His research suggests that five key barriers prevent us from developing positive habits:
Time | Money | Physical Effort | Mental Effort | Routine
If you want to build a habit – say, writing more often – you work through the ‘chain’ to identify your weakest link. Once you’ve pinpointed the barrier holding you back, you ask: How do I make this behaviour easier? According to Fogg, there are three answers: improve your skills, get better tools, or make the behaviour smaller. Making it smaller increases the likelihood that you’ll do it, triggering positive reinforcement and creating a lasting habit. Simple!
Bec has been banging on about the ability chain for years, but I’ve never fully bought into it. I get the theory - I just don’t think human beings operate this way. Let’s say I want to write more regularly. I have the time and money (tick), I have the tools (tick, tick), I’m physically able (tick, tick, tick), and it fits my routine (tick, tick, tick, tick). But there’s a problem: I find writing mentally effortful. Every time I sit down, I feel like an imposter. I despair at myself and my own writing, convinced I’ll never improve. So instead of writing, I procrastinate. I over-research. I do nothing.
Fogg’s framework would tell me the solution is simple: just do some writing. Ya think? If only it were that easy. Fogg’s conclusion - that to develop a writing habit, you need to write – is technically correct. It’s just woefully unhelpful. It doesn’t account for how we actually think and reason, especially when it comes to certain kinds of work.
And that’s the problem: Fogg’s model treats all tasks the same. It assumes that breaking a habit into smaller, easier steps is always the answer. But some tasks are algorithmic, while others are heuristic. Let’s dive in.
Creative tension
Algorithmic tasks follow clear steps with predictable outcomes: learning to type faster, training for a marathon, or following a recipe. For these, Fogg’s model works - you reduce friction, make the habit smaller and improve over time. But writing, like many creative pursuits, is a heuristic task. It involves uncertainty, iteration and struggle. The problem isn’t that writing is too big; it’s that it feels ambiguous. And ambiguity doesn’t shrink just because you take smaller steps.
For me, this is where Fogg’s model breaks down. He assumes friction is a problem to be eliminated, but in creative work, friction isn’t just inevitable - it’s essential. It’s the tension that forces us to wrestle with new ideas, push past surface-level solutions and create something original. Experiencing friction doesn’t mean we’re doing something wrong. If anything, it’s proof that we’re engaging deeply with the work.
Maybe instead of making our writing habits easier, we need to get better at tolerating the discomfort that comes with them?
Keep going, Chris
Read more:
> The ‘good discomfort of keeping going
> The art of getting lost and why that’s okay
> Why creative work feels hard, and why that’s the point
Coming up this year…
Along with our coaching and courses, we often deliver workshops and talks for writing organisations, groups and communities (including universities, charities and businesses). Here’s a few we have coming up below. If you’d like us to speak at your event, message us or hit reply. We’d love to chat!
✨ Find Your Writing Mojo: Writers’ Day 2025
Discover Tools and Techniques for Consistent Creativity with Bec Evans
📅 8 February 2025 | 📍 The Writers’ Workshop Sheffield
We’re excited to be part of this day-long event packed with inspiration, support, and community for writers at every stage.
💡 The London Writers’ Salon
WORKSHOP: From Resolutions to Routine – How to Keep Writing When Motivation Fades
with Bec Evans & Chris Smith
📅 27 February 2025 | ⏰ 18:00–19:00 GMT | 💻 Online via Zoom
Struggling to turn your New Year’s resolutions into lasting habits? In this practical session, we’ll share strategies to help you stay on track when motivation dips.
🎟 Get 15% off the ticket price (£35) with code LWSFRIEND15 at checkout.
📚 Mslexia Memoir School
Five days of workshops, feedback, and support in the comfort of your own home. Bec will be hosting happy hours and goal setting workshops to support women writers working on memoir.
📅 31 March - 4 April 2025 | 💻 Online via Zoom | 🎟 Tickets and information
🏆 SI Leeds Literary Prize
We’re proud to support the SI Leeds Literary Prize this year - a biennial award for unpublished fiction by UK Black and Asian women. Our workshops and coaching sessions will support writers throughout their creative journeys.
Good point, and it makes me think of the oyster-pearl analogy: pearls come into being as a response to an irritant. When a foreign substance enters an oyster’s shell, the oyster instinctively coats it with layers of nacre—the same material that forms its shell. Over time, this process transforms the irritation into a luminous pearl, a stunning creation that owes its existence to an initial disturbance.
My new boss at work has a maxim of get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It's a challenge in itself but where's the fun in things being easy? Isn't trying to make things easier a sort of evasion? Like planning the plan? Or is that a very English approach of grin and bear it? If people at work put as much energy in trying the new approach as opposing it they could join the 'do mighty things' club (Joint Propulsion Lab motto)