A friend had invited me home for dinner. “I am making noodles,” he had texted me. He opened the door and invited me to his kitchen, opened a packet of instant noodles and served it. He had promised me noodles and he had made good. Why was I disappointed? Because I expected him to at least do something more. He could have chopped some vegetables or added a fried egg. He had not put in ANY effort to claim he had MADE the noodles.
The egg and vegetables that I added made it MY COOKING
Researchers have demonstrated that consumers place a higher value on products they have partially created or assembled themselves, irrespective of the quality of the end product. This phenomenon, where personal effort translates into increased perceived value and affection, was notably observed with simple tasks like assembling IKEA furniture or even folding origami.
The Ikea Effect
Applying the IKEA effect
I had once worked with a client on redesigning their onboarding program. The receiving team designed the onboarding – not HR. They came up with clever ways to introduce the team to the new hire. They designed clever games to explain the org structure and the product line. In the process of designing this the team got fully vested in ensuring that the new hire was successful. It was way more fun than anything a centralized onboarding team designs.
What if…
Instead of the L&D team designing the workshop and facilitating it, letting the participants tweak the design, add to the examples and case studies could work wonders. We would stop having to issue mandates and diktats to the participants to attend the workshops and instead have them look forward to seeing how their work lands in the classroom.
The IKEA effect is a fascinating finding. You buy a flat-pack wardrobe, spend hours deciphering cryptic instructions, fumbling with Allen wrenches, and perhaps even installing a piece backward. But once it’s finally standing, you look at it with a sense of accomplishment. It’s not just a wardrobe; it’s the wardrobe you built. You might even forgive its wobbly door more readily than you would a pre-assembled, perfect one.
The IKEA effect is everywhere
Knitting a Scarf: You could buy a beautiful, machine-knitted scarf for a reasonable price. But if you spend weeks knitting one yourself, dropping stitches, unraveling, and starting over, the finished product will hold far more sentimental value. It’s not just warm; it’s a testament to your patience and skill, a tangible piece of your time and effort.
DIY Home Renovations: People often undertake home renovation projects themselves, even when hiring a professional might be quicker or result in a more polished finish. The satisfaction of tiling a bathroom floor yourself, painting a room, or building a deck isn’t just about saving money. It’s the pride of stepping back and saying, “I did that.” The imperfections become charming quirks rather than flaws.
In every case, the IKEA Effect shows us that effort isn’t just about output; it’s also about input. The more we put into something, the more we value it, not necessarily because it’s objectively better, but because it carries the indelible mark of our own personal investment.
How to get people to pay attention
Attention is scarce. In a world overloaded with messages (social media, ads, noise), the hook is your gatekeeper. If you fail in seconds, you lose the chance. People don’t follow ideas—they follow people. The “mascot + conviction” combo anchors the message in a person they can invest in. Trust is the oxygen of influence. Without trust, your message is ignored or dismissed. But with it, even tough truths land. Stories move hearts; numbers move minds. You need both, but stories open the emotional door. Likeability softens resistance. When someone is witty, warm, or relatable, we forgive more and lean in more.
Should you self-publish?
Kevin Kelly is someone who knows a thing or two about publishing. But does he know enough about self-publishing? The answer is yes. I read his 16 page research on self publishing vs finding an agent.
This cartoon is actually a one line summary of the 16 pages that Kevin Kelly wrote: First find out the size of your readership. Before that don’t write a book.
Read about 1000 True Fans You Need Before You Publish
Read about how to get people to pay attention
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