Harness the Power of Friction to Beat Overthinking and Distractions

Facing a task that pushes on your introverted weak spots? Harnessing the concept of friction can help you get going—and keep going.

Ice skating fills me with a child-like sense of awe, even today as I approach age 58.

Maybe it’s because I grew up in Minnesota, on a lake that froze starting in December. Maybe it’s because my mom was Canadian, and she—like all other Canadians—was born wearing a tiny pair of skates. Maybe it’s because I simply enjoy the wonder of being outside in nature.

I suppose all of these factors and others are at work.

But what I really love—what’s magical about ice skating—involves friction.

Make that lack of friction.

When Friction Is Low(er)

When you’re ice skating, you’re able to move faster and more smoothly than you ever thought possible from so little effort.

Yes, there’s the falling, especially in the beginning.

But once you get the hang of it, you see that skating is one of the most efficient modes of transport around, largely because you’re on an effectively frictionless surface that allows you to get moving and stay moving with relative ease.

Even if you’ve never ice skated before, you know what skating’s friction-free experience looks like and feels like.

If you’ve ever played air hockey, for example, you’ve seen how you can move the little plastic puck several feet with a mere nudge.

If you’ve ever gone skiing, you know how quickly you go down the snowy slope, even on the bunny hill.

If you’ve ever gone roller skating or 
inline skating … same story.

Wendy Wood, a psychology and business professor emerita at the University of Southern California, has built an entire self-help approach around the friction concept.

She illustrates it in her fascinating book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.

If you’re an introvert like me who struggles sometimes with the overthinking and distractions that can get in the way of you completing a challenging task—or even starting it at all—Wood’s application of friction might just become your new best friend.

It sure has for me.

Smooth Your Path

Here’s how Wood’s concept works, in a huge nutshell.

If you have some big project you want to do, you’ll be far more likely to get started on it—and ultimately finish it—if you intentionally look for ways to reduce the friction that is already lurking between you and both the starting line and the finish line.

Let me give you an example.

Each time I sit down to write a new blog post, I stare at a blank screen.

An intimidating blank screen.

I have been writing for decades now, and still—still—the first thought that pops into my head each time I sit down to write something new is this one:

“What if the words don’t show up this time?”

I have at least learned by now that I can ignore this voice, and I do (mostly!).

But I still have to write the blog post, or whatever it is that I’m writing.

And so I look for, and implement, every way I can think of to reduce the friction between me and, well, both the starting line and the finish line.

I employ three key strategies:

1. I clean my office, particularly my desk, so that there is no sense of clutter whatsoever.
2. I focus on the lead sentence first, and exclusively. (Note: If other parts of the piece happen to start making themselves known before I’m ready, I scribble them down quickly on sticky notes—then get back to nailing down that lead sentence.)
3. I then write the rest of the piece—allowing myself to circle back to the beginning again and again and again and again and again to maintain the flow instead of following writer Anne Lamott‘s works-for-others-but-not-for-me advice of producing what she calls shitty first drafts without constantly circling back to the beginning. (For me, not fighting my natural tendency to circle back over and over again as I write does indeed reduce friction.)

As you can see from this blog post and the many others I’ve written, reducing or eliminating friction works.

It transforms whatever you’re doing into a sort of routine—or habit, as Wood refers to it—that is an especially effective weapon against the hurdles that can too easily sabotage what you’re trying to accomplish as an introvert.

The Other Form of Friction

I wasn’t aware of it until I read Wood’s book, but I also use a sort of converse version of Wood’s friction idea.

You can too.

It goes like this …

Just as you can proactively remove or reduce friction to smooth the path toward what you want to do, you can intentionally create friction to stand between you and what you don’t want to do.

How does this concept help me write?

In two ways:

1. I close every program but the one I’m using—and turn off my connection to the Internet—before I start writing on my computer, so that there is no temptation to get distracted from what I’m doing.
2. I put my cell phone in another room so that it is about 90 feet (I measured) from my hand—and thus my attention.

Beat Overthinking and Distractions

Wood’s approach isn’t foolproof.

And, just like skating, there’s the falling.

Especially in the beginning.

But once you get the hang of it, you’ll see that harnessing the power of friction gives you an introvert-friendly way to combat introvert challenges like overthinking and dealing with distractions and interruptions—the kinds of problems that might otherwise stop you in your tracks.

Or prevent you from starting in the first place.