>Let me share my slightly unusual definition of “effort”: it’s the felt experience of expending energy beyond what an activity requires

How about finding a word that actually captures your meaning, or defining a new one?

I asked an LLM - it came back with "overexertion".

>Using this definition, it’s clear that the appropriate amount of [overexertion] for any activity is zero.

But overexertion means using up more than was available. ("Running on fumes" etc.)

Expending more than an activity requires may or may not mean you have more power reserves left.

Yep. All done to create a manipulative title.