# Aversion Factoring

> CFAR rationality technique for decomposing aversions into specific addressable components using the LEGO brick model. Use when the user: (1) avoids something they believe they should do, (2) says "I hate doing X" and wants to understand why, (3) wants to overcome a specific aversion, (4) practice decomposing emotional resistance, or (5) wants to understand the gap between what they want to want and what they actually want. Triggers: "aversion factoring", "I hate", "I avoid", "I can't make myself", "why do I resist", "overcome aversion", "ugh field", "CFAR", "decompose aversion".

- Skill: `equistamp/aversion-factoring` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add equistamp/aversion-factoring`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/equistamp/aversion-factoring/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: EquiStamp (https://skillmd.com/u/equistamp)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/equistamp/aversion-factoring

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# Aversion Factoring

A CFAR technique for decomposing complex aversions into their specific, addressable components. Based on the LEGO brick model: no activity is monolithically aversive — aversions are collections of distinct sub-aversions that lose valuable detail when averaged together.

## Three Modes

1. **Design Mode** — Map out an aversion and create a targeted plan to address each component
2. **Practice Mode** — Walk through the technique on a moderate aversion to build skill
3. **Execute Mode** — Decompose and address a real aversion blocking the user

## Core Insight

"I hate going to the gym" isn't one feeling — it's a bundle: the drive there, the locker room, the equipment, the self-consciousness, the time cost, the post-workout soreness. You might be fine with 80% of it and only truly averse to 1-2 specific things. Fix those specific things and the whole aversion may dissolve.

## Core Process

### Step 1: Articulate the Aversion
"What do you avoid or dislike? Be as specific as you can about the activity."

### Step 2: Decompose Into Sub-Aversions
List everything that contributes to the aversion:
- "Walk through doing [the thing] step by step. Where does your enthusiasm drop?"
- "What's the worst part? What's the second worst?"
- Include: weird impulses, trivial inconveniences, concrete sensory details
- Don't filter — trivial things matter (a missing barbell pad prevented someone from going to the gym for months)

### Step 3: Button Test
For each sub-aversion, mentally press a button that removes it: "If [sub-aversion] magically disappeared, would you do the thing?" This reveals which sub-aversions are actually blocking you vs. which are minor irritants.

### Step 4: Categorize and Address
For each significant sub-aversion:

**External/situational** → Address with concrete action:
- Self-consciousness at gym → Go at off-peak hours, wear headphones
- Missing equipment → Buy your own pad/mat
- Time cost → Reduce to 15 minutes instead of 1 hour

**Internal/psychological** → Address with reframing or graduated exposure:
- Fear of looking foolish → Graduated exposure: start with low-stakes situations
- Feeling of wasting time → Reframe: "This is an investment in energy for everything else"
- Boredom → Add podcasts/audiobooks/music

### Step 5: Mindful Walkthrough
Conduct an actual or imagined walkthrough of the activity with defenses in place. Where does resistance still appear? Address remaining pockets.

## Facilitation Prompts

**Opening**: "What's something you avoid or hate doing? Let's break it down into pieces."

**Decomposition**: "Walk me through what it's actually like to do this. Start from the beginning." / "Where exactly does it start feeling bad?" / "What's the single worst moment?"

**Button tests**: "If I could magically remove [sub-aversion], would you be okay with the rest?" / "Which one thing, if fixed, would make the biggest difference?"

**Solutions**: "For [specific sub-aversion], what would make it tolerable?" / "Who does this without minding it? What's different about their setup?"

## Common Patterns

- **Trivial inconvenience dominance**: The blocking factor is often surprisingly small and easy to fix
- **Sensory specificity**: The aversion is about a specific physical sensation, not the activity in general
- **Social component**: Many aversions are really about what others think
- **Time/energy accounting**: The aversion is about opportunity cost, not the activity itself

## Common Failure Modes

- **Treating as monolithic**: The whole point is decomposition. If the user says "I just hate it," push for specifics.
- **Dismissing trivial inconveniences**: Small things compound. Take them seriously.
- **Over-applying to protective aversions**: Not all aversions should be overcome. Fear of standing near speeding cars is good. Ask: "Is this aversion protecting you from something real?"
- **External fixes for internal problems**: Some sub-aversions need reframing, not environmental changes.
- **Stopping too early**: Use button tests to verify you've found the real blockers.

## Practice Exercise

1. Pick a moderate aversion (a chore, a type of meeting, a health habit)
2. List 5+ specific sub-aversions
3. Button-test each one
4. Identify the top 2-3 actual blockers
5. Design one concrete fix for each
6. Imagined walkthrough: Is it better now?

## Integration

- **Goal Factoring**: Aversion Factoring is goal factoring focused on the cost side
- **Internal Double Crux**: When the aversion reflects a genuine internal disagreement
- **TAPs**: Create trigger-action plans to implement the fixes
- **Focusing**: Access the felt sense of the aversion for deeper understanding