In 2004, researchers Eric Johnson of Columbia University and Daniel Goldstein of London Business School conducted a study on organ donation rates, but they were in for a surprise.
Studying the official percentage of organ donors in 11 countries across Europe, the researchers found a stark difference in organ donation consent rates (in percent).
Were the people in the first four countries (blue) more selfish than the last seven countries (purple)? At first, the researchers thought that this could be due to cultural and religious differences. But Denmark and Sweden are neighbors with many geographic and cultural similarities.
This also contradicted the independent surveys conducted by these researchers where they asked people if they would like their organs donated after they cease to exist, and found no considerable difference in organ donation consent across these countries. People in Denmark liked the concept as much as those in Sweden. Then what could cause their organ donation rates to differ by more than 80%?
The Path of Least Resistance
We are all lazy beings, and this laziness extends to making choices as well. The more the choices, the tougher it is to choose. In psychology, the Hick-Hyman law describes this time taken by a person to make a decision as a result of the possible choices: increasing the number of choices will increase the decision time logarithmically.
And what do we, the lazy humans, do when presented with many choices? We go for the easiest choice, the path of least resistance. And this explains the huge difference in organ donation rates observed earlier.
Upon further scrutiny, the researchers found out that a small change in the forms sent out by the countries made all the difference:
In countries with low organ donation, the form said, “If you want to be an organ donor, check here”
In high organ donation countries, the form said, “If you don’t want to be an organ donor, check here”
If you notice, in the latter case, organ donation was the default choice, so if people wanted to donate their organs after death, they had to do nothing in the form. And this simple thing made all the difference!
Imagine, if a small default choice in a one-time form can make such a big difference, what can our default choices do when repeated every day of our life?
The Invisible Hand
Motivation is indeed the initial spark that gets us started on a new life path, to start a new habit, or make a bold decision, but what happens after a week, month, or year? The motivation slowly fades away, and we feel lost. The old way of life seduces us back like the Sirens to a sailor, and the new commitments are soon forgotten.
Motivation is overhyped! To follow our dreams to the finish line, we need more than motivation. We need an invisible hand that paves our way and shapes our being: it’s our environment. If building a new habit or lifestyle is like training a muscle, then our environment is the gym. We can still exercise without a gym, but a good gym makes the process much better.
Change starts with acceptance. When we accept our laziness, we stop deceiving ourselves with the popular self-help idea, “If you are motivated, you can do anything.” Embrace the laziness, and the body’s need to save energy. In fact, we can leverage laziness in our favor to form new habits and make tough choices.