Making things harder might help

The Daily Drip

When I need to purchase something, one of the first places I look is Amazon.

Why? It's easy and usually pretty cost-effective. There are lots of options and whatever it is, it usually shows up on my doorstep in a day or two.

But could you imagine if it were harder?

What if it cost you $500 for new USB headphones, plus $78 for shipping, it would take 3 months to arrive, and it was going to take you 3 hours to find the right kind of USB port adapter because the website didn't have a search engine and you had to search through a spreadsheet of 500,000,000 other items that weren't alphabetized?

Yeah, all of a sudden, those headphones probably don't feel as essential.

This is called friction. In sales and marketing, we want to make purchasing happen by removing as much friction as possible. Amazon spent a lot of money figuring out how to make that round yellow "buy" button. They also found out that if they made their pages load faster, people bought more stuff.

Go figure.

After an example like this, I think it's easy to consider: if you have a habit or goal you want, how can you reduce the friction to getting there?

Conversely, and possibly more importantly, if you are exhibiting a habit or behavior you don't like, how can you add friction?

If you're having trouble focusing on your writing, have you considered unplugging your router/modem? That might add enough friction for you to just get it done.

Have you considered deleting Instagram from your phone? Have you considered not leaving the candy out on the counter where it's easy to snack on?

Adding friction might just give you a little traction.