🧱 Removing Friction 101

How to spot and eliminate friction in your life — in 5 minutes.

Author

Flocus
September 28, 2025

In partnership with

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This week: It’s all about friction: what it is, what causes it, how it shows up in your life, and how to beat it. Scroll on for the scoop!

🧱 What is Friction?

Friction = anything that makes it harder to do something

This includes not just things you need to do, but also things you want to do.

Most people assume their resistance is laziness, but it’s often unaddressed friction.

Common causes of friction include:

  • 🫟 Messy processes and complicated systems — Searching for misplaced work materials, trying to follow unclear instructions, and spending too much time on unnecessary steps are all examples of poor systems and processes

  • 🤨 Lack of clarity — You don’t know what you’re supposed to do, how you’re supposed to do it, or you don’t have everything you need to get started (which may include input or participation from someone else)

  • ❤️‍🩹 Emotional blocks — Friction almost always comes with heavy emotions attached, like anxiety, fear, or stress (these may not be obvious until after you’ve done some soul-searching)

  • 🚧 Bad user experience — Experiencing technical issues and entering the same information several times on an application are examples of how a bad user experience can cause friction

  • 🍵 Not taking enough breaks — We say it almost every newsletter, but your brain needs a break at least once every 2 hours. If you’re not giving your brain enough time and space to reset, friction is much more likely to slow you down

Now that you know what causes it, let’s explore some sneaky ways friction can show up in your daily life.

🧠 How to Spot Hidden Friction

You might be feeling some friction if:

  • You keep putting something off even though it “should be quick”

  • You have to re-make the same decisions constantly or repeat the same tasks

  • You feel drained by small tasks without knowing why

  • You find yourself saying “I don’t know where to start”

  • You focus on literally anything else besides what you need to do

Alrighty, now that you know how it shows up, let’s talk about how to tackle it.

🧰 Run Your Friction Audit

To uncover more ways friction shows up in your life, assess each of these areas:

  • 🧩 Physical: Are your tools, desk, or devices slowing you down?

  • 🧾 Mental: Are your tasks too big, vague, or unprioritized?

  • 💭 Emotional: Are you avoiding something due to fear, guilt, or overwhelm?

  • 🔁 Process: Are you doing repeat work that could be templatized or batched?

🛠️ How to Reduce Friction (Without Overhauling Your Life)

🏃 Break your task into a 2-minute “entry point”

To beat friction, rethink how you approach your task.

Instead of “complete and submit application”, try “open the application and fill out as much as I can with the energy I have right now” (which brings us to our next tip!).

🔄 Reorder your steps to match your energy

We’ve all made the mistake of trying to do deep work when we’re too tired, stressed, or anxious to focus. We often think we “just need to push through” and “shake it off”.

But it’s okay to pause the “big” task to work on the “small” task you actually have the energy for.

Stepping away from writing your paper to tidy your space might actually replenish your energy, helping you come back to the page feeling refreshed and ready to work.

🏷️ Label the friction

Avoid assuming you’re “just not motivated enough” to do whatever it is you’re resisting. Really explore it:

  • Could this be a clarity problem instead of a motivation problem?

  • How am I feeling right now? Is there something deeper to this emotion?

  • Do I have any vulnerability factors (being hungry, didn’t sleep well, etc.)?

🎲 Set up simple cues or prep

With a little prep work and organizational skills, you can multiply your time in a way that totally prevents friction.

Email templates, desktop folders, default playlists — these are just a few examples of cues you might set up to make things easier and quicker. Speaking of…

🤲 Ask yourself: “What would make this 10% easier?”

If you’re feeling some friction, there’s probably at least one layer of genuine difficulty associated with the task.

To break it down, ask yourself what might make it even a little bit easier.

Asking for help / clarity when you need it, teaming up with a buddy, and planning something fun afterward are a few things you can try.

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

✨ Flocus: Your Personal Productivity Dashboard

Friction is everywhere, from cluttered workspaces to scattered thoughts. Flocus gives you one clear, calm corner of the internet to reset. Plan your day with easy-to-use tasks, focus in with the customizable built-in timer, and drop into Ambient Mode with soothing soundscapes to cut through resistance.

🗳️ POLL: Where does friction show up most for you?

Any other thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

If friction is something you struggle with often, try these tips, and let us know how it goes.

What’d you think of this topic? We love hearing your thoughts, and we read every reply! 💜

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team

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