In last week’s Wiser by Choice book club, it was the first time I compared three books with identical titles (and three others not far off). The unifying theme was “friction” and it’s really gotten me thinking. As Roger Dooley writes in his book Friction, once you put on your “friction goggles” it’s hard not to see examples of friction everywhere. (My parking experience at the Toronto airport at 4:30 a.m. this morning was not pretty…)
My key takeaway from the books was this: Reduce friction that leads to bad outcomes. But because some friction is good, discerning the difference is critical.
What kind of friction leads to bad outcomes? Stupid rules. Unnecessary effort. Broken links. Too many steps. Often, we barely notice it (sadly, we’ve become used to chronic annoyances) and bureaucracy can be a formidable enemy, but it is possible to make things dramatically easier. (Not sure about this? Think about life before Google Maps, Uber and Amazon Prime).
But the good friction is perhaps more interesting to consider. It shows up in two forms: effort that makes a challenging accomplishment more meaningful (you want climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to be satisfyingly hard, for the bragging rights), and hassles we are willing to tolerate thanks to irrational emotional loyalty to particular brands (as one WBC participant noted, she’s willing to put up with considerable parking hassles to shop at Trader Joe’s)!
The key is found in the serenity prayer, which appeals for “the ability to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”