Action Requires Two Kinds of Effort

Any action requires two kinds of effort in order to get done:

• An intrinsic effort that depends on the action
• An effort to decide whether or not to execute the action.

Habits can modify the first, but the main reason they work is that they eliminate the second type of effort.

Every time you read the book, you’re investing these two kinds of effort. First there’s the effort of reading. Depending on the difficulty of the book, this might require a lot of effort or zero effort. Imagine the difference between a quantum physics textbook and a Harry Potter book and you’ll see why.