the ikea effect

Do you know about IKEA furniture? The kind you assemble yourself.

You lay out the pieces, realize the manual has no words, and 3 hours later you’ve built a wobbly bookshelf that leans slightly left. And yet… you love it.

Even more than something built perfectly by a professional.

Psychologists call this the IKEA Effect—a term coined by Dan Ariely, Michael Norton, and Daniel Mochon in 2011. Their research showed that people place more value on things they’ve put effort into, even if they’re flawed. The labor makes us love the result.

It’s not just about furniture. It’s about any time you invest time and effort into creating something yourself.

Imagine this: you invite a friend over, spend hours in the kitchen preparing their favorite dish, and when they finally sit down to eat, their eyes light up.

You could’ve easily ordered the same meal from a restaurant, but the feeling you get from cooking it yourself (knowing you put in the time, the care, and your own touch) is incomparable. It’s the difference between a meal that fills their stomach and one that creates a lasting memory.

That’s the IKEA Effect.

The satisfaction of creating something yourself, of putting in effort and care, makes the result so much more meaningful.

In today’s world, we often outsource tasks to save time. We order food instead of cooking, buy ready-made decorations instead of crafting our own, and hire professionals to do things we could have done ourselves. We think it will make life easier, but it can leave us feeling less connected, less fulfilled.

Things can feel more disposable when we haven’t put our own touch on them.

But the real satisfaction comes from building, creating, or giving from your own hands. Whether it’s a homemade meal, a garden you’ve tended to, or a business you’ve built, the effort you put in makes it feel all the more rewarding.

Even in Islam, there’s a deep value in earning through your own hands. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:

So, next time you face the choice to take the easy route? Choose to build, create, and grow. Cook that homemade meal, start that garden, design that project, or take that first step toward building something meaningful.

The effort you put into your own work, the touch you add, will bring you a sense of fulfillment in the long term. InshaAllah. 💚