We all take shortcuts in life if we can. Shortcuts take less effort, and that saves energy. Saving energy is a positive outcome. An example of the path of least resistance is this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0principle of least effort<\/strong>\u00a0is a broad\u00a0theory<\/a>\u00a0that covers diverse fields from\u00a0evolutionary biology<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0webpage design<\/a>. It postulates that animals, people, even well-designed machines will naturally choose the\u00a0path of least resistance<\/a>\u00a0or “effort”. It is closely related to many other similar principles: see\u00a0Principle of least action<\/a>\u00a0or other articles listed\u00a0below<\/a>. This is perhaps best known or at least documented among researchers in the field of\u00a0library and information science<\/a>. Their principle states that an\u00a0information-seeking<\/a>\u00a0client will tend to use the most convenient search method, in the least exacting mode available. Information seeking behavior stops as soon as minimally acceptable results are found. This\u00a0theory<\/a>\u00a0holds true regardless of the user’s proficiency as a searcher, or their level of subject expertise. Also, this theory takes into account the user\u2019s previous information-seeking experience. The user will use the tools that are most familiar and easy to use that find results. The principle of least effort is known as a \u201cdeterministic description of human behavior\u201d.[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The principle of least effort applies not only in the library context, but also to any information-seeking activity. For example, one might consult a generalist co-worker down the hall rather than a specialist in another building, so long as the generalist’s answers were within the threshold of acceptability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Recently I’ve been thinking about how to use the path of least resistance to improve my outcomes. I’ve started running more because I decided to run at home instead of the gym. Guess what, my home is on a hill so it’s easier to get started running downhill. As a result, I’ve increased the amount of running I do overall. The path of least resistance gets a bad rap because we grow up thinking laziness is a bad habit. Were rewarded for hard work. But that idea doesn’t necessarily have to be true all the time. Just take a look around you, or at yourself, to see that the path of least resistance is a powerful tool that we all use. Figure out how to use it to improve your outcomes, don’t fight against it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We all take shortcuts in life if we can. Shortcuts take less effort, and that saves energy. Saving energy is a positive outcome. An example of the path of least resistance is this: The\u00a0principle of least effort\u00a0is a broad\u00a0theory\u00a0that covers diverse fields from\u00a0evolutionary biology\u00a0to\u00a0webpage design. It postulates that animals, people, even well-designed machines will naturally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}