Friction Point:
I want to walk during working hours, but I wear heels.
Solution:
Bring running shoes with me and use them in breaks.
Friction Point:
I have a formal dress code, and nobody wears running shoes at work; it will be weird.
Solution:
Buy comfortable all-black shoes suitable for walking and work like
this one, keep them at work, and put them on for walks.
Friction Point:
Getting hungry at work, eating unhealthy food, and the hassle of ordering food:
- If I’m ordering food from a small place nearby, I don’t like thinking about what to eat, making the call to order it, or paying cash on delivery.
- If I’m ordering from an app, I don’t enjoy browsing to decide my meal; verifying my credit card using a one-time password; getting contacted by the delivery man to double-check the address or receiving my meal at varying times.
Solution:
Automate the food ordering process by subscribing to a
healthy meals delivery service where I pay monthly, order weekly, and get contacted by the driver daily at about the same time to receive my meal. Best health decision I made 17 months ago.
Friction Point:
I switched from Bluetooth neckband headsets to AirPods and they fall out when I walk so I am not listening to podcasts or making phone calls while taking walks like before
Solution (s):
- First solution: Get a cheap Bluetooth headset just for walks. It served me well for listening purposes, but its mic was bad for calls, then one of the earpieces dismantled. Too cheap, apparently.
- Second solution (current one): Found this solution by chance during my recent vacation and it works so well. My AirPods are now in a neckband during my walks.
- Future Solution: Design custom-made earplugs like the ones my husband designed to wear in wedding parties and noisy places.
Friction Point:
Although I bring my homemade coffee to work every morning, I usually crave another coffee after lunch, the office is too small to have my own coffee station, ordering coffee is a hassle, my favorite coffee place is not nearby.
Solution:
Friction Point:
Forgetting my phone charger at home or office.
Solution:
Keep one at each place.
Friction Point:
Looking for stuff around the house, losing stuff, getting late asking about stuff.
Solution:
Have less stuff, less clothes, less socks, less toys and less paper. To do that, I need to turn decluttering into a habit, not a yearly project, which is my current focus.
I am well aware that many of the friction points above sound like first-world problems, however, studying habits made me aware they stand in the way of my best self.
Did this list remind you of friction points you too can act on?
Many times, the reason you are not committing to your habits is not that you’re not disciplined enough or too lazy. Instead, the habit is not easy enough, and that’s perfectly okay.
Embrace this simple law of habit change; make it easy. You are not a high maintenance person if you remove friction points. In fact, you are intentional about re-engineering your environment to improve your life.
As James Clear says:
“The less friction you face, the easier it is for your stronger self to emerge. The idea behind make it easy is not to only do easy things. The idea is to make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that payoff in the long run.”
Find the friction points then solve them which is what I will help you learn to do in my upcoming workshop:
