Doing Tedious Tasks Are a Form of Quiet Power

"Meg's bank charges a $15 monthly fee unless she makes 5 debit card transactions a month. She prefers to use her credit card for rewards, not her debit card. Once a month, when her local supermarket isn't busy, she buys 5 bananas in 5 individual transactions at self-checkout. She doesn't make the rules but she makes the rules work for her."

"Phil has a hotel reservation that has a cancellation policy for 48 hours before check-in. There's a blizzard coming in. He doesn't want to cancel now nor risk getting charged if he can't travel. He calls the hotel and asks for an Option C. They tell him to keep the reservation and they won't charge the fee if he can't make it. To prevent possible problems, he asks them to send him a quick email confirming this."

"None of this is hard. It's just annoying enough that most people don't bother. Annoying, Tedious Task Types Opportunities hide in tasks like: Filling out the lengthy application. Wading through the confusing interface. Claiming everything you're entitled to. Documenting a process. Asking the question everyone else is too embarrassed to ask. Following up when it would be easier to let it drop. Reading the terms and benefits. Comparing prices before auto-renewing. Submitting the reimbursement form others forget. Making phone calls."

Enduring small, tedious frictions frequently produces outsized advantages in everyday situations. Simple, annoying actions—like making extra small purchases, securing a verbal policy exception, or tracking price drops and rebooking—save money and reduce risks. Opportunities often hide in time-consuming or awkward tasks such as completing long applications, navigating confusing interfaces, claiming entitled benefits, documenting processes, asking uncomfortable questions, following up, reading terms, comparing prices before renewals, submitting reimbursements, and making phone calls. Most people skip these frictions, so tolerating them becomes a low-competition strategy that converts minor effort into meaningful gains.

Read at Psychology Today