When I was a baby, I am told, my mother was trying to get me to crawl. She put a blanket on the carpet, as you do for babies, seated me at one end, and placed a big, shiny red apple at the other.
My mother said I eyed the apple covetously while my parents enthusiastically cheered me on. After a moment’s consideration, I grabbed the blanket and pulled it to me, bringing the apple with it. I got the apple. Job done.
That small moment tends to stay with me because it shows something we all recognise in ourselves. When we want something, we don’t sit there admiring the approved method. We look for the simplest way to get the result.
It’s easy to forget that in business.
The example with the apple is useful because it shows how reducing distance changes behaviour. In your context, that reduction might mean grouping services in a way that reflects how they are actually used, setting out pricing so it removes uncertainty rather than introduces it, or guiding someone through a small number of decisions that lead somewhere clear.
When you come back to that early moment with the apple, it reads less like a story about ingenuity and more like a simple example of how people behave when they are focused on a result. They look for a path that fits their situation and reduces the work required to get there.