The Hidden Power of Friction: How to Use It to Skyrocket Your Income, Filter Out Toxic People, and Quit Bad Habits

Friction is often seen as an obstacle.

However, when strategically applied, it can become one of your most powerful tools for growth.

Understanding how to wield friction—either by increasing it or reducing it—can help you:

• Quit bad habits
• Disqualify bad prospects
• Streamline your business
• And improve your personal efficiency.

In this article, we’ll explore how to use friction in a deliberate way to level up various areas of your life.

Increasing Friction to Quit Bad Habits

Bad habits are easy to form because they usually come with low friction—they’re:

• Convenient
• Effortless
• And provide instant gratification.

If you want to break bad habits, one of the most effective strategies is to increase the amount of friction between you and that behavior.

For example, if you have a habit of mindlessly scrolling through social media, try increasing friction by deleting the app from your phone or placing your phone in another room while you work.

The extra effort required to access social media will create a barrier, making it easier to resist the temptation.

Similarly, if you’re trying to improve your diet, increasing friction with junk food can make a huge difference.

Don’t keep unhealthy snacks in your house.

If you want to eat them, you’ll have to go out and buy them, adding multiple layers of effort to the process.

This small change adds enough resistance to encourage better choices.

The key is to identify the bad habits you want to break and think about what would make them harder to perform.

By making the path to those habits inconvenient, you’re more likely to abandon them.

Increasing Friction to Keep Bad Influences Away

Just as friction can help you quit bad habits, it can also be a powerful tool for keeping negative influences—whether people or environments—at a distance.

In social and professional contexts, increasing friction serves as a gatekeeper for your energy and time.

For example, if certain people in your life drain your energy, find ways to increase friction in your interactions with them.

This could be as simple as not responding to their texts or calls, or as complex as restructuring your social circle to reduce contact with toxic people.

When communication or interaction becomes more difficult, it naturally reduces the likelihood of frequent engagement.

In the context of business, this strategy can be used to disqualify bad prospects.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know that not all clients or customers are a good fit.

You can use friction to filter out those who aren’t aligned with your vision.

This might mean setting up more rigorous qualification processes before someone can work with you, such as:

• A detailed application form
• A discovery call
• Or an upfront investment.

These steps create friction for those who aren’t serious, leaving you to focus on clients who are truly ready to invest in what you offer.

Removing Friction for the Right People to Pull the Trigger Easily

While increasing friction can help protect your energy and filter out unwanted prospects, removing friction is equally important for those you want to attract.

In both business and personal relationships, the goal is to make it as easy as possible for the right people to engage with you.

In the world of business, this principle is known as reducing friction in the customer journey.

If a customer wants to buy from you, but:

• Your website is difficult to navigate
• Your checkout process / UX is annoying
• Or they have to jump through hoops to get answers

they’re likely to give up and move on.

Simplifying and streamlining processes can remove those barriers and create a smooth, effortless experience.

Think about how you can reduce friction in every step forward.

Make:

• Your offers clear
• Your checkout process fast
• And your customer service responsive.

The easier you make it for people to say “yes,” the more likely they are to do so.

Similarly, in personal relationships, you can remove friction by:

• Being authentic
• Communicating effectively
• And being open to the right connections.

Reducing friction in your interactions fosters stronger bonds and makes it easier for others to invest in you emotionally and intellectually.

Removing Friction in the Efficiency of Your Business and Systems

Beyond customer experience, friction in business operations can significantly slow down your growth and efficiency.

Internal friction—whether in your:

• Processes
• Communication
• Or decision-making

creates unnecessary hurdles that prevent you from moving quickly and scaling effectively.

One way to remove friction in your business systems is by automating repetitive tasks.

Whether it’s:

• Invoicing
• Email marketing
• Or client onboarding

automation can eliminate manual effort, freeing up time and mental energy for more important tasks.

Look for areas where tech can handle the load and remove the need for human intervention.

Another area where friction can be removed is in communication.

Streamlining how your team interacts and collabs can improve efficiency.

Whether through:

• Project management software
• Clearer role definitions + standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Or more effective meetings

reducing friction in communication leads to faster execution and fewer misunderstandings.

The less time you and your team spend navigating friction, the more time you’ll have to focus on growth.

Removing Friction in Your Daily Life

Just as friction in your business slows things down, friction in your personal life can drain your energy and focus.

By identifying and eliminating these sources of friction, you can improve your overall quality of life and boost productivity.

One of the most effective ways to remove friction in your daily life is to streamline decision-making.

Many successful people use routines and systems to minimize the number of choices they have to make throughout the day.

For example, you could:

• Plan your meals in advance
• Automate bill payments
• Or even adopt a minimalist wardrobe.

The fewer trivial decisions you need to make, the more mental energy you’ll have for higher-level thinking.

Another way to remove friction in your personal life is by organizing your environment.

A cluttered space creates mental friction, making it harder to concentrate.

By keeping your living and working spaces clean and organized, you reduce the mental load required to navigate your day.

Finally, consider the friction in your physical well-being.

Things like:

• Poor sleep
• Unhealthy eating habits
• And lack of exercise

create friction that affects your energy levels and focus.

• Optimizing your sleep environment
• Improving your diet
• And integrating regular exercise into your routine

can significantly reduce friction in your daily life.

Conclusion

Friction is a double-edged sword—when increased, it can help you distance yourself from:

• Bad habits
• Influences
• And unqualified prospects.

When decreased, it can:

• Streamline your life and business
• Making it easier for the right people to connect with you
• And for you to operate efficiently.

By strategically controlling the level of friction in different areas of your life, you can create an environment that supports:

• Growth
• Productivity
• And success.

Mastering this balance will allow you to level up both personally and professionally, removing the unnecessary barriers and focusing your energy where it matters most.

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