The "Cake Mix" or IKEA Effect

Put In the Effort and You Will Appreciate It More When You Get Results

When they started producing cake mixes in the 1940s, they sold a box full of dehydrated powder that only required the 'baker' (more likely, housewife) to add water and mix it in a bowl, pour it into the cake tin and bake.
But it turned out that they were very unpopular.  People did not want this type of cake.
They investigated all kinds of reasons for that (these days we'd call it market research).
Maybe the taste was no good?  No the taste was great.
What they figured out was that there was not enough effort involved.  It was so easy that no one could serve cake to their guest and say, "I made this cake".  They may have just as well bough the whole thing from the bakery.  It didn't really feel like their own.

So, what did they do?

They removed the eggs and milk from the mixture.

Now that you had to break eggs, measure milk, add them together and mix.  Now it was your cake,  You had made it!

A similar thing happens with IKEA furniture.  Don't you find that if you own a piece of IKEA furniture, you generally are more fond of it than other furniture that you bought?  That is probably because you had to build it.

I find that every time I move house, I disassemble my IKEA furniture, take it with me and reassemble it in my new place.

What does this have to do with fitness and health?

Well, isn't it obvious?

Don't look for the quick and easy solution to your problem.  In this case, it will be probably less effective.

But, also, if you put in the effort, if you do the hard graft, you will be so much happy within yourself.

And, like that piece of IKEA furniture, those benefits will stick around for a long time.