Start every new agent at under two minutes with zero preparation — automaticity requires low activation energy first

Why This Is a Rule

Activation energy — the effort required to start a behavior — is the primary predictor of whether a behavioral agent fires. A two-minute action with zero preparation has activation energy close to zero: when the trigger fires, the barrier between intention and action is negligible. A 30-minute action requiring material setup has activation energy that competes with every available default behavior (checking phone, making coffee, reading email) — and defaults win because they have zero activation energy built in through thousands of reinforcement cycles.

BJ Fogg's research on habit formation shows that the initial behavior must be "so easy you can't say no." Two minutes with zero preparation meets this standard. You don't need to set up your writing environment, gather your materials, or get into the right headspace. You just do the thing. The behavior fires, gets reinforced, and begins building the automaticity that eventually supports longer, more complex versions.

The sequencing principle — minimal before complex — prevents the common mistake of designing the aspirational behavior first. "I'll meditate for 30 minutes every morning" is aspirational. "I'll sit on the cushion and take three breaths" is minimal viable. The second fires reliably; the first fails in week two. Once the minimal version is automatic, expanding is natural because the trigger-response pathway is already established.

When This Fires

• When designing any new behavioral agent from scratch
• When rebuilding a failed agent after simplification (When an agent fires below 80% after 30 days, simplify before sophisticating — unreliable agents need reduction, not enhancement)
• When someone describes an ambitious new habit — check activation energy first
• When an agent requires preparation steps that themselves have activation energy barriers

Common Failure Mode

Designing the aspirational version first: "My new exercise routine is 45 minutes of lifting, 3x per week." The activation energy (changing clothes, commuting to gym, warming up) is so high that the agent fails within two weeks. The minimal viable version — "Put on gym shoes" or "Do 5 pushups at home" — would have established the trigger-response pathway that the 45-minute version needs but can't build on its own.

The Protocol

(1) When designing a new agent, ask: "What is the absolute minimum version of this behavior that takes under two minutes and requires zero preparation?" (2) That is your starting agent. Not a "stepping stone" or "training wheel" — this IS the agent. (3) Install it: set the trigger (Agent triggers must be observable or measurable — vague triggers like "when I feel ready" never fire reliably), define the condition, execute the minimal action. (4) Track for two weeks: does it fire at 80%+? If yes → the automaticity foundation is building. (5) After consistent firing, expand by small increments: two minutes → five minutes → ten minutes. Each step must maintain 80%+ reliability before the next expansion. (6) If the minimal version doesn't fire → the issue is trigger or condition design, not action complexity. Diagnose before redesigning (Diagnose failing behavioral agents by component — trigger salience, condition scope, or action effort each require different fixes).