How to manage barriers in life to achieve what you want
To enjoy life and reach your goals every day, it’s important to be able to eliminate or create small barriers—microbarriers—that block progress. The chapter “Personal Ecosystem” explains how to do this.
This section focuses on making everything that brings you happiness and satisfaction easy and simple to access. We look at how to organize your life so it feels less difficult. This involves reducing resistance and making activities you don’t like less unpleasant, while making necessary, useful, and enjoyable tasks easier.
Many think microbarriers are no big deal. They believe it doesn’t matter where your sneakers are. If you want to go for a run, you can grab your sneakers from the top shelf when needed.
But that’s not true. Microbarriers are a main source of problems in our daily lives. They may not seem important, but they influence our actions more than we realize.
Marketers know that people are often lazy. They understand that each extra step in the buying process can stop a potential customer from finishing a purchase. For example, adding another button or requiring more forms on a website reduces sales.
The more questions on a survey, the fewer people complete it. This is why big companies like Amazon offer one-click ordering. When selling well, it’s necessary to make the process as simple as possible. The goal is to make progress quick and easy.
If we want to build good habits or do useful things, we need to think like marketers. We should make things as simple as possible and take away all barriers.
Microbarriers are everywhere. They cause frustration and problems that we may not notice at first.
For example, if you need a lot of effort to do a task like exercising at home, small barriers can stop you. Let’s say you want to work out but can’t find a suitable video. It needs to be short, engaging, not too hard, and effective. If you don’t have dumbbells or the right space, it gets harder.
Without a ready plan or a favorite instructor, small obstacles can make you give up, promising to try again tomorrow. But tomorrow often ends up the same way.
Small barriers are usually easy to fix. For example, in the case of home workouts, you could buy a few sets of workout clothes or a pair of suitable sneakers.
You might also move furniture to clear space. But if you have to do these things every time, it can become a hassle. This can prevent you from sticking to your routine.