No Choice = More Freedom?!
Why removing choice is the secret to achieving our goals
What if I told you you’re stuck not because you lack motivation but because you have a choice?
When there’s a choice, the mind chooses comfort over progress.
But what happens if choice disappears? 🤔
Is that even possible?
This post explores what happens when you remove choice from the moment of action…and how this unexpectedly powerful shift keeps you moving forward.
Why we get stuck
If you’ve felt stuck toward one or more of your goals, you’ve probably blamed a lack of discipline or motivation.
That’s the obvious explanation.
But what if we’re stuck because we think?
Right when we’re about to take action, the mind hijacks us. It clouds us with thoughts and emotions that ultimately prevent action.
Why?
Because the moment action becomes optional i.e. a choice, the mind starts optimizing for comfort, not progress.
This isn’t random.
Alfred Adler called this acting in service of goals we’ve set subconsciously. The mind is intelligent. It’s always optimizing… just not always for what we consciously want.
You know what to do…but choose not to do it
Most of us already know what to do.
Lose fat → eat better, move, work out
Write a book → write regularly
Start a side hustle → research, show up, take action
Clarity isn’t the issue.
The issue is that at the moment of action, the mind still has a choice: to act or not.
And when there’s a choice, thinking enters.
When thinking enters, comfort wins. 🤯
Remove choice —> Get more freedom
So what if we removed choice from the equation?
Ironically, the less choice you have in the moment, the more freedom you experience while moving forward.
But how do we do that? It seems like an impossible loop.
There’s a surprisingly simple way around this… one that doesn’t rely on forcing discipline or motivation.
The best way to remove choice is to decide in advance:
what you’ll do
when you’ll do it
how you’ll do it
When the time comes, there’s nothing to negotiate. You just show up. You prevent choice. You prevent inner negotiation.
This is what James Clear describes as removing friction at time of action.
I go deeper into this idea here, sharing a few practical examples of how removing choice at the moment of action can help us get unstuck.
The more you show up, the more aligned you feel after action.
Over time, that alignment replaces doubt, anxiety, and “stuckness”.