I read this quoted on my colleague Chris’s weblog, and was struck by its simple insight.
This is from Paul Graham’s How to Make Wealth but I think it applies equally to creativity as to commerce.
If you have two choices, choose the harder. If you’re trying to decide whether to go out running or sit home and watch TV, go running. Probably the reason this trick works so well is that when you have two choices and one is harder, the only reason you’re even considering the other is laziness. You know in the back of your mind what’s the right thing to do, and this trick merely forces you to acknowledge it.
When you have a choice between two creative ideas or two ways to implement an idea, isn’t it more fulfilling to do the harder one? I get such a sense of accomplishment from hard work. But sometimes I forget that and this reminder is a good kick in the pants to go do the multi-page mapping project I’ve been putting off for weeks.
