Module 10 · Motivation & action · Lesson 4 of 6

Friction and making things easier

Small obstacles decide more than big intentions. Arrange things so the right action is the easy one.

8 min read · Free — no account needed to read

The idea

Friction is anything that makes an action a little harder: shoes in a cupboard instead of by the door, a form that needs a password you cannot remember, a phone within reach while you study. Small bits of friction decide a surprising amount of what we actually do.

You can use this deliberately. Environment design means arranging your surroundings so that the actions you want are easy and the ones you do not want are harder. Put the book on your pillow; keep fruit on the counter; log out of the app that eats your evenings.

Commitment devices go one step further: they lock in a choice in advance, when you are thinking clearly. Booking and paying for a class, agreeing to meet a friend for a run, putting savings in an account that is hard to withdraw from. They work because they change the choice later from “will I?” to “am I going to cancel?”.

Why it matters

Relying on willpower alone is tiring and unreliable. Changing the environment works quietly in the background, on good days and bad ones.

See it happen

Hiroshi wants to read more but spends every evening scrolling on his phone on the sofa.

The first read

He thinks he simply needs more self-control, and resolves to try harder to put the phone down each evening.

With this idea

He charges his phone in the kitchen after 9pm and leaves a novel on the sofa arm. He also joins a monthly book club, which gives him a date to finish by. He reads four books in two months.

What changed

He changed the friction around both actions, and added a commitment device.

Easy to get wrong

• Blaming yourself for losing a fight your environment was set up to win.
• Making commitment devices so harsh that failing them becomes a source of shame.

What this rests on

Well studied. Researchers have studied this a good deal. The core idea holds up, though details vary between people and settings.

• Katy Milkman — How to Change (2021), and the fresh-start effect (Dai, Milkman & Riis, 2014) — Research on why change is easier at new beginnings — a new week, month or birthday — and on making good behaviour easier and more rewarding.

Try it: Move the friction

1. Pick one action you want to do more, and one you want to do less.
2. For the first, write one way to make it easier.
3. For the second, write one way to make it slightly harder.
4. Make both changes today.

Reflect

• What small obstacle stands between you and something you care about?
• What in your surroundings makes the unwanted choice the easy one?

Use it in the coming days

Make two environment changes this week and write in your journal after a few days whether behaviour changed. For deeper habit work, Habit Lab has a full module on environment.

Where to do it: My Journal

A short note after a few days shows whether a change of surroundings actually changed behaviour.