Big shoutout to my co-authors: @gregdepow.bsky.social @minzlicht.bsky.social and Srishti Agarwal from AmuseLabs for all of the amazing work on this project!

In our final preregistered study, we tested how people experience effort in real life using experience sampling over a week.

– More effort corresponded with more meaning, both in leisure and non-leisure
– But only non-leisure effort predicted less enjoyment
– Effortful leisure was still enjoyable!

In a third preregistered study, we compared:
🧩Effortful puzzling vs. a less effortful 🎮"Click-to-reveal the image" game

Again, Sudoku was seen as more meaningful.
Surprisingly: participants often enjoyed it just as much (or more).

In an initial exploratory experiment, we partnered with AmuseLabs to compare:
🧩 Effortful puzzling (Sudoku) vs. 📺 Passive leisure (YouTube videos)

✅ Sudoku felt more meaningful
❌ It wasn’t rated as less enjoyable

We then replicated this in a preregistered study.

In one study, people predicted a tradeoff🤔
Effortful leisure = more meaningful, but less fun.

Were they right?
Not exactly…

If work, a major source of meaning, is declining due to the "Automation Bomb," people may need new sources of meaning.

Our findings suggest that effortful play (not just passive rest) could help fill that gap in our leisure time.

One must imagine him happy (at least relative to a scenario where, instead of a giant boulder, it was pushing a small pebble for eternity)

Effort isn't just a cost-it's a source of meaning. For all the details, check out our paper here: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Big thanks to my co-authors @minzlicht.bsky.social and Yiyi Wang!

So, why does effort feel meaningful? Part of if might be feeling competent and mastering challenges-but the story isn't so simple. And yes, there's a limit: too much effort can backfire and feel overwhelming (sorry Sisyphus). Balance might be the key.

We even tested this with AI🤖! Writing with ChatGPT made things easier, but those who wrote manually felt more meaning in their work. Automation might save us time, but it comes at a cost to how much we value what we do.

But this wasn't just in their heads! When participants had to invest mental effort into real tasks, from math problems to writing assignments, harder tasks felt more meaningful-even when they weren't more enjoyable. Effort ≠ fun, but it still feels worthwhile.

In two studies, we had people imagine they and others were exerting more (or less) effort on a task for the same rewards. The more effort they imagined, the less fun but more meaningful the task felt.