The Art of Friction
A friend and I were having a random conversation one day when he made a comment about how he would love to do more podcasting but don't because he's too lazy to setup before he's ready to record. He said even though setting up only takes about 5 minutes and it's mostly loading all the software he needs and getting the settings right, and adjusting his mic and what not, it was enough of a barrier that he puts off recording more than he liked.
He wished there was a button he could push and automatically everything would instantly be set up exactly the way he likes, and he could just start talking and it would record immediately. And when he's done, push the button again to stop. Although it may seem silly, that initial 5 minutes to set up everything so he could start recording was painful enough that he put off recording for his podcast. Maybe because of that, as a result, he never ended up launching a full time podcast.
This conversation forever changed my life and how I viewed things. At the time, I wanted to get healthier, be more fit, and lose some weight. Aside from changes to my diet, I knew this meant exercising. The only problem was I was never big on exercise or particularly motivated to work out.
In the past, I paid for gym membership and ended up never going. A cliché. I knew this time around, if I had to leave the house to go to a gym for me to start working out, that was never going to happen. Instead I opted for building a home gym.
We had a spare bedroom we could turn into a workout room and I found a cheap like new treadmill for sale online from someone local. I bought some weights, a pull up bar, a few other things and figured, since the room was a few feet away, I had no excuse for not working out. Apparently I was wrong.
The gym equipment sat there for months and I never started working out. Something had to change. I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I had with my friend. I ended up upgrading my desk to a sit stand desk. I moved my treadmill under my desk to create a makeshift treadmill desk. I got some cheap yoga shoes that were practically socks with a hard sole underneath. They took maybe 2-seconds to slip on and since I was at my standing desk already, with a hit of a button, I could start walking on my treadmill. And that did it.
I began walking for 30 mins to an hour a day, everyday, like clock work. And overtime I developed a habit for wanting to work out more. All because I kept reducing the amount of friction that kept me from getting started until it was practically frictionless. The opposite is true for things you want to do less of. Add layers and layers of friction until it becomes painful enough that you start putting it off.
Mastering this concept was profoundly life changing for me. Since then, I've adopted this across more and more of my life towards things I want to do more of or less of. I highly recommend others give it a try.
