Tim Ferriss On The Minimum Effective Dose
How many times have you heard the advice of doing more? Work more. Spend more hours doing the thing. Do more sets. Do more reps. Focus more on your diet. Restrict more things and so on. There seems to be a cookie-cutter answer to any problem we might have.
Volume. Volume. Volume.
And sometimes this is the right approach. Sometimes we simply need more volume and more work to achieve our desired results. However, there are other ways to get to our goals as well. One of which is the opposite of doing more.
The concept of the minimum effective dose (MED) was first introduced to me through Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Body.
In the book, Tim Ferriss defined as:
The smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome.
He was talking about this concept in the context of physical goals. When it comes to our diet, instead of introducing a whole new menu to our lifestyle or restricting half your daily calories, you can simply nail down the smallest, easiest change to your current lifestyle, which would result in weight loss.
This could mean a 10-minute walk or starting your day with a protein shake or eating a healthy side veggies with your meals.
To remove stored fat → do the least necessary to trigger a fat-loss cascade of specific hormones.
To add muscle in small or large quantities → do the least necessary to trigger local (specific muscles) and systemic (hormonal2) growth mechanisms.
This idea can be applied to various aspects of our lives.
What’s the smallest action or change you can implement to improve your relationship with your significant other or your family? What’s the smallest change or action you can do to improve your productivity at work? What action can you introduce in your morning routine that would help with your mindset or mental health?
The answer to these types of questions can be simple and straightforward.
Instead of thinking that you need grand ideas for dates and spending hours upon hours each week with your significant other in order to improve your relationship, perhaps simply telling them you love them throughout the day, both in person and over the phone, can improve your relationship.
The same goes for our work. Instead of thinking that you need to be productive for three hours in order to get your task done, you could try taking ten minutes to plan out the task at hand before working on it which could result in a more efficient and effective use of your time. You may realize that a focused 60-minute session after planning is better than an unfocused 180-minute session.
Or taking 15 minutes before bed to map out what your morning will look like when you wake up could result in winning the morning rather than introducing a whole new morning routine with a long task list that is meant to accomplish the exact same goal.
So, it’s actually controlling the impulse of doing more and feeling the need to do more.
More is not better. Indeed, your greatest challenge will be resisting the temptation to do more.
The most important thing when it comes to implementing change is simply whether you will be able to do it day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year if need be. That’s where most people fail in bringing about their desired change and result. They take on too much and try to change too quickly, especially in a short period of time and become either dejected or burnt out from the workload.
That’s why the minimum effective dose can be effective. It’s much easier to stick with something that doesn’t cause a lot of resistance or willpower. Even if that means that it will take your longer to hit your goal because at least you will get there.
Take adherence seriously: will you actually stick with this change until you hit your goal? If not, find another method, even if it’s less effective and less efficient. The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.
Next time you’re planning a goal, think: What is the smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome?
Originally published at http://learnedliving.org on June 20, 2023.