I finished Saturday’s race because there was no alternative.
Literally.
Running in a city you can abandon anytime. You can literally just walk away. Or sit down and enjoy a cold beverage.
Up in the mountains, if you decide you’ve had enough, if your brain tells you that there is no way you are going to continue, if you look at the next ascent in horror - there’s no alternative to tempt you - other than maybe going slower or taking a break.
You still have to get to the next refuel station, where you’ll get a pep talk (and some sustenance) so you can continue. The alternative is convincing the volunteers that you really can’t continue, then wait for hours until the refuel station gets dismanteled after the race.
Unless you are injured, abandoning a mountain race is more hassle than to “just” finish it.
And as humans, we are wired to take the easier route.
Yesterday, “easier” were 30 km with 1800m elevation gain. (Strava / Website).
Add more friction to your (work) life
Friction is more powerful than willpower.
Don’t just make it easy to do the right thing. Add friction to the comfortable alternative.
Prepare the coffee machine in the evening so it’s easy to switch on while half-asleep.
Put the alarm next to it so you have to get out of bed or wake up the entire houshold.
Collect all the information you need to finish the report.
Than ask your partner to change the wifi password until you are done.
I told a colleague they’d have the full framework of the Dimensions of Distributed Work by Tuesday to present it to prospects.
It was ready on time.
Add friction to your organization
If you don’t want people to be connected 24/7, ban Slack from all private phones.
If you are serious about employees not working while they are on vacation, suspend their login while they are away. Make it a company policy to reduce anxiety.
If you are worried about employees getting lonely at home, offer an coworking allowance that gets paid in advance instead of reimbursed - they have to either justify the expense or wire the money back.
Be creative with how you make life easier, and where to make it harder on purpose.
I indeed finished the Dimensiones of Distributed Work. To get your copy you can sign up at https://remotethatworks.com/dimensions - that means you’ll also get access to some additional videos. Or you can answer to this email and I’ll send you the pdf ;)