Get it started

It’s a safe bet that if you can read this sentence you partly owe that ability to the large quantities of hemoglobin that are being continuously synthesized in your blood. Without this essential molecule your red cells wouldn’t be able to distribute the oxygen that allows you to function. The process of creating it is extraordinarily complex, depending on several tightly-interwoven sequences and involving numerous intermediates. An especially noteworthy participant is an enzyme with the ungainly name of uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase, which plays a critical role by shrinking the time required for a key step down to milliseconds.1 Without it the production of heme would take a staggering two billion years or so to complete, which is just a bit longer than the average lifespan. It is one of the most effective biological catalysts known, allowing life as we know it to exist.

Chemistry is replete with examples of necessary reactions that proceed too slowly on their own to accomplish their intended goals, absent some energy source or catalyst that can kick-start the process. This hurdle that must be overcome is known as the activation energy. It must either be input into the system or somehow circumvented by an alternate pathway before the main work can begin. 

let's light this candle

The principle is observable on a larger scale as well. If you try to start a campfire by directly igniting larger logs you are going to remain cold and/or bereft of s’mores, but if you work with more combustible tinder first the whole thing will soon blaze on its own for hours.

Those who live in very cold climates are likely familiar with the effect of temperature on their vehicles. To get moving an adequately warm battery is required to activate the starter motor, which then cranks the engine. If that first step fails the car will remain motionless, no matter how much gas is in the tank or how otherwise well-engineered it may be.2

The potential for heat is in the wood and the car has the inherent ability to move, but the sequencing of actions is what helps get things over the starting hurdle.

Climb the slope

As with chemical reactions, some real-world activities can get off the ground through the persistent application of sufficient effort, which eventually brings the process to a self-sustaining point. The author Jim Collins captured this concept memorably in his concept of the flywheel. This heavy device initially rotates very slowly as inertia is overcome but in time turns faster and faster until its own momentum makes it easier to keep spinning.3

At the start it will seem like much work is being done with minimal results. Those climbing up the steep beginning slope will expend a lot of energy before seeing progress, but it pays to persist until reaching the tipping point. A classic example is in capital-intensive businesses: if you invest heavily in quality, the resulting product can then bring in more revenue than competitors, providing even more capital to invest in improvements. On it repeats, in a virtuous cycle.

Making the metaphor literal, those seeking to summit mountains like Everest or K2 are able to endure tremendous privations for weeks or months on end by keeping the goal in mind. The climb itself is cold, strenuous and overshadowed by risk of serious injury or death. Yet the prospect of accomplishing the goal is enough to keep them moving.4

though sometimes you may need to turn back and live to climb another day

However, for many other goals simply applying brute force to the problem will not be sufficient to get the work proceeding to the point where it runs smoothly. Sometimes a more effective approach is to find a catalyst, like that aforementioned decarboxylase, to lower the required activation energy.

let's not even get into whether this reaction is exo- or endothermic

Cross the hurdle

The analogy from chemistry provides lessons for both groups and individuals that are trying to start longer, more demanding initiatives.

At the group level, organizations often find it very difficult to launch activities that are highly complex. Attempting a major transformation all at once is burdensome if the slope is too steep. In such cases there are well-meaning attempts that end with gravity dragging everyone back down to where they began. Leaders have several levers at their disposal to overcome the hurdle of getting started:

  • They can temporarily remove other responsibilities, allowing colleagues to dedicate all of their energies to the new project in the early stage.
  • Alternatively, they can catalyze change by sequencing activities so the most beneficial or obvious steps come early in the process, providing early markers of progress.
  • Leaders can also find ways to regularly provide a vision of the desired outcome, so the daily focus shifts from the tough slog of the investment phase to the better end state.

For individuals, the idea is similar although the application can vary. If a runner sets a goal of completing a marathon, her first training runs should probably be less than 26 miles. If reducing screen time would be helpful for long-term well-being, quitting everything cold turkey is much harder than cancelling a few streaming services, thus making it harder to watch things mindlessly. Some practical steps:

  • Lower the initial expenditure of energy needed for a process. For example, a number of recent startups are predicated on simplifying personal finances. Whereas the barrier of gathering paperwork and potentially meeting an advisor in person was too onerous for most, the new spate of tech-enabled services automate budgeting and investing, setting users on a path to better financial health with less
  • Conversely, increase the costs of staying on an undesirable path. Making the status quo less attractive can make the activation energy of a new approach seem less daunting by comparison. For instance, public commitments or enforced accountability underpin the psychology behind the concept of the various (Something Bad)-Anonymous groups. It is much more pleasant to stand in front of one’s peers and recount victories over some negative behavior than to admit personal failings.5

If you find yourself regularly stuck in the early, more challenging stages of projects, never quite able to get over the peak, consider if the path you’re on has high initial energy requirements. Determine how you can sustain efforts through the steep first phase when necessary. Even more powerful, identify the catalysts that can help lower that initial barrier.

References

Activation energy first introduced by a very effective high school chemistry teacher.

Technical paper describing the hemoglobin enzyme from the journal PNAS, with a more popular explanation at Science Daily.

Flywheel concept explored in detail on Jim Collins’ website.

Numerous articles on lowering barriers to getting started by James Clear.

Another treatment of the concept of activation energy from Farnam Street.

  1. Those of you who took biochemistry might recall late nights spent trying to memorize hemoglobin production or similarly-intimidating processes. Right now it’s sufficient to know that decarboxylase takes off carboxyl groups or else bad things happen. ↩
  2. Apologies to electric vehicle proponents for the internal combustion engine-centric nature of this analogy. ↩
  3. Collins takes credit for introducing this concept to Amazon at a key inflection point in its early history, leading to a virtuous cycle of increased volumes, greater efficiency, and lower prices that has grown it to the global behemoth it is today. “Alexa, who is the world’s richest person?” ↩
  4. In a minimal way I can personally attest to this focus, having climbed the much-shorter mountain of Kilimanjaro. Despite nearly blacking out I kept on going to the top, although I required the help of porters to descend. ↩
  5. Public rewards and promotions, rankings in school or work, etc. are intended to catalyze performance by either making the effort seem less onerous, or by making the threat of public shaming seem worse than working hard. ↩