Parking Uphill: A Tactical Approach to Breaking Bad Habits

I've learned something new. Or heard it in a different way, so that it seems new. There's one key feature of forming good habits and rooting out bad habits... and it's NOT willpower (news flash). What is it?

Friction.

Remember friction? From physics class. Ugh. I remember doing these calculations to see if the angle of the slope was steep enough to cause the box to start sliding. Lots of trigonometry and cosines and sines.

But we're not going to talk about that sort of friction. Nope.

The sort of friction we're talking about is really simple.

Reduce friction - make things easy, quick, short

Add friction - make things harder, slower and farther

Forming Good Habits

The trick to forming good habits is to reduce the amount of friction in three key areas: time, distance, effort.

Want to do weights everyday? Move them out of the basement gym, into your home office. Put the 5 lb weights on your desk...  See, reduce the distance and the effort. Once you're doing 5 lb weights in between meetings, you can eventually up it to 10 lbs.

What to get more people to sign up as organ donors? Make the sign-up process super easy and seamless with a QR code and a process that only takes 2 minutes. Reduce the time and the effort.

Want to remember to bring a reusable mug/cup for your Timmies/Starbucks run? Have it by the front door or on the counter, and keep a spare in your car.

There are so many different ways to reduce time, distance and effort. I wrote a blog about it a few months ago. Want to get your day off on the right foot, make sure you "park downhill" the night before. Have your work-out gear laid out, have a full water bottle ready to go. Make it easy. Make it quick. Make it short. Reduce the friction, so that all you have to do is pop in the clutch and you are rolling downhill with no effort.

Breaking Bad Habits

Soooo... if we form good habits by reducing friction, then obviously, we can break bad habits by adding friction to... time, distance, effort.

I've known some of this for a while. I've got a bit of a sweet tooth so if there is chocolate in the house, I will find it and eat it. Yes, even the baking chocolate. Ask my mother... When I was a kid, my sister and I would raid the baking cupboard and eat the baking chocolate... or the chocolate chips. Mom would want to do some baking and couldn't figure out where all the chocolate went! Anyhoo... Today's Solution: don't bring chocolate into the house. Clamp down hard on this!

Yes, there is a corner store a 3 minute walk away, but it is downhill to the store and uphill on the way home. And that is enough friction to stop me from walking down there. And driving that short distance just seems ridiculous, at least to me. Plus... I don't want to spend $3 on a chocolate bar that costs $1.25 at the regular grocery store. That is highway robbery!

So for me... adding cost to the friction equation also works. Make something more expensive, or with a financial penalty... and I'm easily swayed in the opposite direction.

They (the scientists) have done studies... if you slow down elevator doors by 26 seconds, more people will get impatient and take the stairs. If you remove vending machines from schools, you (theoretically) make it harder for teenagers to snack on junk food. Judging by my niece... some teens just go to the nearest corner store or Timmies!

It's called the Principle of Least Effort. Habits are kind of like water and take the path of least resistance. So if you want to make a good habit, you need to make it as easy and frictionless as possible. The idea is to change your environment as opposed to trying to change things like willpower or discipline.

Frictionless Bad Habits

It works the other way too... we can reduce the friction for any habit... even bad ones. A lot of companies use this to their advantage. Want to buy something on Amazon? One-click shopping - super easy! And today, you can just say "Hey Alexa, buy "whatever"... and it happens. Very little friction there... and that can make it very easy for a bad shopping habit to form.

Credit cards and debit cards now have the tap feature so you can be in and out of stores super quick. Heck... credit cards make it super easy to buy something even when you DON"T have the money! Hence... credit card debt...

Netflix... we are trying to watch the latest Loki season, one episode at a team, making it last. But as one episode ends and the credits roll... the next episode queues up and before you know it, 20 seconds have gone by and the next episode is starting... automatically. "Oh heck... we might as well watch the next episode... just one more..." Netflix made "binge-watching" a thing...

Soooo many things are designed to make it easy for those little bad habits to get more and more deeply entrenched.

Knowledge, Awareness & Willpower are Not Enough

But knowledge is power, right? And once we are aware of our bad habits, we can choose differently? We have free choice, we have the willpower! We are disciplined!!

Meh. Not so much. Very few people can go "cold-turkey" and make it through the other side. Oh sure, inhibition and self-denial work for a while. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might regularly wonder... "What the heck?... she is doing ANOTHER sugar detox?"

 Yep. Rinse. Repeat. That's what trying to rely on willpower does.

And this is not a 21st century problem... Does this quote sound familiar?

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but [I do] what I hate I do."

Yeah. St. Paul struggled with this too. Cause it's not about willpower... or knowledge or awareness. It's all about friction. 

If we want to break a bad habit, we need to modify our environment to add friction. If something is more difficult to do, or takes longer... or is farther away... we will tend to do it less often.

Adding Friction to Chocolate

Let's take my love affair with chocolate. I already know that I can't keep it in the house, otherwise it all disappears. Yay! There's knowledge! There's awareness!

Not so fast... I go to Starbucks during the day and... they have a chocolate brownie that is my kryptonite. Soooo... I have been successfully denying myself chocolate at home, but the craving is still there. What do you think happens when I go to Starbucks? Maybe I'm feeling a tiny bit frazzled or think I deserve a "reward" or... whatever. And bingo... chocolate brownie is on my plate!

Sooo... are there other options? Well... here's my plan.

I am no longer going to deny myself chocolate. I am actually going to keep some chocolate in the house. Yep. But it is going to be seriously dark chocolate. And a Dark Burnt-Almond Cadbury or Dark Rittersport bar do not make the cut. I am talking 70%, 80%... even 95% dark chocolate. Have you ever tried a 95% dark chocolate bar? It is seriously bitter! 

So, the plan is, when I'm at home, and get that chocolate craving, I can have a square of dark chocolate. Trust me... one square is usually enough. Right now, I am starting with 70% but I have some 90% as well. If I do want a second square later in the day, that's fine, but it's going to be the 90% chocolate. I take one nibble of that and I am good. You can't really binge on dark chocolate... it's not that sort of taste sensation.

If I want something sweet, I go and have an apple, because compared to 90% chocolate... an apple is a lovely, sweet, delicious, juicy thing!

As for the chocolate brownie... I now carry a cut up apple with me when I go out, and some almonds. I'm also thinking of bringing a half square of 90% chocolate with me... as back-up. The idea here is... if I get hungry, I have the apple. If I have a serious chocolate craving, I can have the dark chocolate.

As my palate gets used to the dark chocolate, I will up the first square from 70 to 78% and then 85% until I'm doing 90% for the first and 95% for the second.

So I am making it easier, quicker, shorter to have an apple or a bit of dark chocolate. I'm also making it harder, longer and farther to get crap chocolate.

We have little chocolate bars that we put in the welcome basket for our Airbnb guests... I've now tucked those down into the "pit" by the front door. The "pit" is a floor hatch by our front door, that leads to our little mini-basement (under the stairs space). It is a serious pain-in-the-butt to move the entrance bench, all the shoes, the rugs and floor mats, haul open the hatch door, prop it open and then go down and get a chocolate bar... and put it all back. So far, that added friction is working quite well. It's the "out of sight - out of mind" technique...

Out of Sight - Out of Mind

The other aspect of the brownie situation would be to add some more friction to the process... With Starbucks you earn points with every purchase and once you hit a certain threshold you can redeem them for things like... tea... or chocolate brownies (100 points). Who can say "no" to a FREE brownie!!!?? Not me. Although I could get a free tea too... but why "waste" those points on a tea.... 

I could just ditch the points program. But the thrifty person in me likes to get things for free... And there is really no way for me to say "Can you ban me from ordering a chocolate brownie". Although... if I let the points accumulate until it reaches 200 stars... I could get myself a tasty, relatively healthy snack box that has things like apple slices, cheese, nuts, peanut butter... That would be better? Maybe.

Here's an option that just popped into my head...

I use the Starbucks app on my phone to pay for my tea. But as I swipe the app open, it tells me in big, bold font, how many points I have. When I see 103 points... I think... FREE Brownie!!!!! But... what if I stopped using the app? I still have my Starbucks Gold card... I could use that instead. I got out of the habit of using the card during Covid when nobody wanted to touch it and swipe it... But if I use the card, I won't see the points building up and... that might just work! Going to try it!

Step 1 - remove the Starbucks app from my phone... (gasp)... Done.

No mobile order for me anymore, but I didn't really do those... Back to the old-fashioned card. Fingers-crossed.

N.B. IT WORKED!!! I wrote this in mid-October... and it is now early January and...October 18 was my last Starbucks brownie. Not seeing those Starbucks Rewards available to me makes a difference! As does having a cut apple in my bag... and a square of dark chocolate. Yay me!

Another Idea - The Kitchen Safe

The other option for increasing the friction for the munchies is to buy a Kitchen Safe. Yes, you read that right.

It is a simple plastic box with a lock on a timer...

You can put your cookies, candies, chips, phone, drugs, Xbox controller, car keys, credit cards into the box, set the timer and... voila... they are out of reach. Uh-huh... that's a well-spent $80... but maybe it would work for someone.

Although there are already websites that will tell you how to hack into your Kitchen Safe. I can already tell you that a hammer would probably work. Amazon has replacement bases for the Kitchen Safe...

This is apparently "America's #1 Habit Breaker" as seen on Shark Tank. Seriously? Oh... and it has charging access so your phone can be charging while it's in the penalty box.

Hey, whatever works. Our "pit" works similarly... it increases the friction to get at whatever we are craving.

Seven Little Things that Make the Most Difference in my Life

I admit to being a bit of a productivity nerd, always reading new books and trying to get some new hack that will actually help me get more stuff done. One recent book suggested a four step process...

First - focus on one Highlight for your day - something that you've wanted/needed or would like to work on - and schedule a 60-90 min chunk of time for that.

Second - when that time comes around, practice Laser focus - turn off your phone, etc - just work on your Highlight.

Third - Reflect on how it all went and repeat.

Except... it is a 4-step process and there's a supporting step that is not part of the work flow... Energize. Basically, you need to keep up your energy otherwise your day is going to tank. They have several ideas for how to energize yourself during the day - everything from snacking to strategic caffeine to naps to good sleep hygiene.

And I thought... yes... this is all so true. I know this soooooo well!!!

1. Prioritize Sleep

I have not been sleeping well lately. I have trouble falling asleep and then I wake up at 3 am. Sometimes I lie there, awake, until it's time to get up at 5 or 5:30. I know that these sleep issues are due to multiple things... watching a movie too late into the evening, being on my phone or the computer in the evening, the cat chirping in my ear and demanding cuddles at 3 am, my partner having coughing fits (allergies)... it really doesn't matter. The upshot is... I drag myself out of bed at 5:30 am and feel horrible.

When I have not slept well, my energy is blipping along at almost 0%. I have no enthusiasm for my projects. I spend my day putting out tiny fires (extremely urgent to me) and start neglecting other things, like eating well.

So I'm focusing on good sleep hygiene as we move into this new year. No TV or computers or phone after 7 pm. I can work on a puzzle, or we can play a game. Maybe I'll write some cards. Any analogue activity is fine... just nothing digital. I'm also starting to have a mug of chamomile tea in the evenings. We have also begun to listen to a sleep meditation just before bed. We could try banishing the cat from the bedroom but that isn't going to happen. 

2. Eat Good Food

I get up early, and head off to Starbucks most mornings. I come home around 8 am and then make breakfast. But... if I go grocery shopping... then the morning gets longer and I might not get home till 9 am or later. At which point I am a raging Hangry (hungry anger). I do try to take a breakfast-on-the-go with me - some yogurt and berries, or a cut-up apple. Because, honestly... if I am running around doing errands... the hangry really wants something... and there is Timmies (toasted bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese) or Starbucks (chocolate brownie warmed-up). And neither of those options is good for me. 

So... we are back to Michael Pollard's book (In Defense of Food). The take-away was... Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants. We do try to follow that. Where I get hung up is on snacks...  I want chocolate! No.... that's not right. I NEED chocolate!!

I have been trying to grab an apple and almonds when the urge strikes... trying to wean myself off of the chocolate. I've also decided to give dark chocolate a try... REAL dark chocolate. My brother-in-law has done this in the past. And when I've visited them, I've tried a piece of  90% dark and almost spit it out!! Soooo bitter and dry and... ick! But... it's an acquired taste. More on this in next week's blog...

3. Drink Water

Ugh. I totally fall down on this. Years ago, a friend (10 years older than me) told me that if she didn't drink enough water, she would get tired and cranky. Yeah-yeah... whatever.

Ah-hem...

It's true. For me! Ugh. I walk by my water bottle in the morning as I head out the door and I think "There it is. I should pick it up. But it's empty. It will take too much time to take it to the sink and fill it with water."

No. Seriously. This went through my head just this morning. The rest of me looks on in amused incredulity... "It would take 10 seconds to fill that water bottle up!" Yeah, whatever. Now I'm at the bottom of the stairs and it would take even LONGER now.

So I head out the door without a water bottle. And regret it later when I am grocery shopping and parched. Yep. Got bit in the ass by my own impatience.

The thing to do is this... maybe... to park downhill. I wrote about this ages ago. Grease the wheels, smooth the trail... park downhill. The thing to do would be to fill my water bottles the night before (I have several). Fill the small one and put it in my office back-pack... the one that I take with me when I head out. Would that not be the thing to do? Yes... it would... wish me luck!

4. Move More, Sit Less

I have one of those fancy Garmin watches that tell me how many steps I've taken, etc. If I sit too long, it will vibrate on my wrist and if I look at the screen, it tells me to "MOVE!". It's a bossy little thing, that watch. Of course, I ignore it.

I already do a 45-60 min pre-lunch walk with my partner. That's good, right? Yep. And more is always better. We are starting to stitch in a pre-dinner walk - just around the neighbourhood. Usually it's because one, or both, of us have not yet reached 10,000 steps. It's a good little incentive and we also visit the mailbox and check if the free newspaper is out yet.

Moving is always good... I need to remember that.

5. Meditate & Breathe

I fell off the meditation bandwagon months ago. To just stop, breathe, focus on nothing but the breath and watch the monkey mind scurry around. Come back to the breath.

When I do meditation, I always feel so much better. I am calmer, clearer... just... better. Why do I not do it? Because it takes too much time. Yep... I mean... if 10 seconds is "too much time", then a 5 minute meditation session is so over-the top "too much time", it doesn't even bear thinking about.

Although, my partner reminded me that... "you can meditate at any time... not just in the morning"... errrr... you mean, instead of being on my phone and scrolling the news?? Whhhhaaaaattttt?? Yeah. What a concept.

What if... when I pick up my phone because I'm bored or avoiding something... I actually stopped and closed my eyes and meditated for a quick minute or two or three... What would happen?

Hmmm... idea percolating here. I could change my lock screen to be a pic that says... Meditate & Feel Better... 

*20 minutes later**

Done!! We'll see if it makes a difference or just becomes part of the scenery...

And... I've also set a timer on the two worst time-sucks on my phone (my boredom soothers) - Facebook app and the Internet app (for checking the news). When the daily time limit is reached... boop... the app is greyed out and I can't click it open!

6. More Analog Face Time - Less Digital Facetime

No, this is not Apple's Facetime... which is not actual face time. I'm talking real, live, analog face time... where you sit down in front of a real person and have a chat or play a game or... whatever. We are social beings. We need inter-personal interactions! And as we all learned during Covid... Zoom calls gave us LOTS of Facetime and interactions but very little face time... and we all felt exhausted after those calls. Digital Facetime is no substitute for analog face time.

Maybe that's why I like sitting in Starbucks and working. I see a lot of real people. I hear murmured conversations. I chat with some of my Starbucks regulars, chat with the baristas... it doesn't take much.

7. Get Outside

This one is huge. To just get outside, breathe some fresh air and interact with nature. Even if it's just in the backyard. Better if it's a walk in the forest. Being out in the forest calms me... energizes me... Soooo... just get outside.

A Plan for the New Year

Yep, it's January 1. A time when a lot of us make the dreaded New Year's Resolutions... Usually they are lofty goals "I am going to go to the gym every day and work out for an hour!". How'd that work for you? They've done studies, and most resolutions are on the trash heap by the time February rolls around.

I'm going to start small... with small steps... chamomile tea at night, dark chocolate and an apple in my office bag, pre-fill my water bottle at night, walk to the mailbox (don't drive), meditate for 5 minutes, play a game, get outside and breathe.

Small steps can make a big difference.

Think of the Postivies

I'm sitting in McDonald's again this morning (6:30 am) after a few weeks of relapsing back to Starbucks. I know, I know... change is hard. I wrote about that a while back and it's so true. Even after writing that I was breaking up with Starbucks... there I was... back in it's familiar space. This morning though... I thought... "no"... just do it!

I walked in the door at McDonald's and figured out how to place an order on their big display screens. Another new thing. Now, it came in a disposable cup... so I'm going to have to figure out if they do reusable mugs. I'd probably have to order at the counter but... the first order has been completed. I can't articulate what a big hurdle that was for me... maybe not huge... but big enough that every morning I just thought "I'll just go to Starbucks". So it was probably more like a speed-bump hurdle but... it doesn't take much to derail the best laid plans! Oh... and get this... McDonald's has "table service"!? You can place your order, give them your table number and then sit down while they bring it to you! Go figure!

This morning, there is a different crowd hanging out at McDonald's. These are the guys heading off to work, a lot of them middle-aged. There is one table of old guys chatting away. It's not that different from Starbucks actually... where there's a similar gaggle of middle-aged construction guys that hang out. But I guess... the difference is, I'm on a first-name basis with some of them. And here... it's all new and different and strange.

Now McDonald's has a fairly limited tea selection but... the price is ridiculous. At Starbucks, it now costs $3.90 for a small tea. Here... I can get a senior's tea (smaller) for $1.42. And even a small tea would still be less than half the cost of a Starbucks tea. Soooo... sitting here... I am thinking of the positives...

Walkable/Bikeable

The McDonald's is an easy 30 minute walk from home. I can do that. And it's maybe an 8 minute bike ride. Also very doable. And I'll get the bonus of exercise. What's not to love about that? I could also bike to Starbucks but it's probably more like a 15 minute bike ride and that just somehow seems a bit of a bigger hurdle. 

Cheaper

This is a no-brainer. If I get a Starbucks tea every day (more or less)... that's... let's just round up... $4/day = $120/month.

Whereas at McDonald's... it's $1.50/day or $45/day. What could I do with an extra $75/month? A heck of a lot more than over-priced tea!

Reliable Wifi

Sometimes, at Starbucks, connecting to the wifi is a real hassle. You have to login every single time, even if you check off the little box that says connect automatically. And sometimes the wifi just doesn't work well.

Whereas, here at McDonald's, I was here once and connected to the wifi. This morning, I didn't have to do anything, the laptop connected automatically to the wifi and I was off and running. Gotta love that!

Quiet Music

Sometimes, at Starbucks, the baristas have the music cranked and are rocking their favourite playlists. Which is fine when no one is in the store but... when there are customers... it gets to be a bit much. Part of the problem is that the speakers are in the front corners of the store, far from the baristas, so in order to hear the music over the noise of the espresso machines and coffee grinders, they crank it. 

Here at McDonald's, they have ceiling speakers and even though I am basically sitting under one of them, the music is very chill - Lionel Richie, Phil Collins... Not exactly cool coffee shop jazz but... it's not hideous.

Errand-Friendly

The two Starbucks that I visit the most tend to have errand options nearby. The farthest one has Superstore, Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, etc. Hard to beat that for errand- friendly but... can McDonald's compete with the others?

• Starbucks 1 - grocery store, big thrift store, drug store/post office
• Starbucks 2 - dollar store, bulk food store
• Starbucks 3 - grocery store, library, drug store/post office
• McDonalds - grocery store, drug store/post office, vet, hair cut, several thrift stores

So, it does compare quite favourably. 

Scales Tipping in Favour of McDonald's?

It's kind of hard to argue with all of those pros... isn't it? Especially against a tiny list of cons. They are a multi-national conglomerate behemoth? So is Starbucks. It feels unfamiliar and strange. Yep... that's how life works. Life is change. Life is growth. I used to love Starbucks hot chocolates and that was the draw back in 2010. No other hot chocolate (Timmies for example) could compare. But tea? Tea is pretty generic. I'm not a tea connoisseur by any means.

At this point, it's the shear force of habit that keeps me going to Starbucks... and familiarity. But I can do this, right? I am stronger than those well-worn paths in my synapses! Small steps. 

Falling Off the Routine Bandwagon

I was off in Vancouver for a few days and my well-honed routine went out the window... no meditation or stretching in the morning was the first to go. I did journaling on one day and then it fell apart on the second day. My plan to walk 10,000 steps each day also didn't happen. My evening journal page also evaporated. Sigh.

That's the thing when you travel. You are out of your familiar milieu... you are away from your well-worn routine and... it's hard, really hard to keep things going. I try... but it's all different. It's like I need a different routine for a different environment, which probably makes sense but is something for which I didn't plan or prepare!!

It would take a it of effort given that I am staying at my sister's house and working on their timetable. They aren't up early and it's not a house in which I could cook my breakfast without disturbing someone's slumbers. At least not at 5:30 in the morning... Even as I'm tying this at 7:05 am... I realize I didn't take my Synthroid this morning! Ugh...

I'm not sure what a routine would look like when I'm traveling. And it seems like a lot of work to come up with a plan that I only need every once in a while, and only for a few days at at time. I know that when I get home today, I will slip back into my familiar routine and all will be well.

Perhaps if I was going on a longer trip... then it might make sense to devote some time and thought to what a morning routine might look like.

The one thing that has worked on this trip is... I get up early and I walk to the nearby Starbucks and sit there for several hours. Yesterday, I did do my morning journaling there, and I wrote one of these blogs. So that all worked. But this morning... I am heading back on the ferry, so the bus disrupted the flow of my early morning pattern. Even though I'm at a Starbucks near the ferry terminal, the journaling has taken a back seat. Although... kudos to me, I am writing a blog!

What I really needed on both days, however, was some food to take with me. Because I get hungry in the morning, and if I'm sitting at Starbucks for 3 hours... the siren call of the chocolate brownie becomes too much to resist. And while sometimes my sister has packable food options... not this time. So it would require me to go to the grocery store and get a few things to tide me over. Which all seems like too much effort for a 2 day visit. And so I cut corners and shave a few things off my routine.

Perhaps that is what is required... just cutting myself some slack when my habit doesn't follow its usual groove... or doesn't transfer well to another environment. It's just for a couple of days... and I can get back in the flow tomorrow. More or less... I hope!

In the meantime... what might a new habit ritual look like while staying at my sister's place? Just so I'm well-prepared for next time!

• get out of bed and take my synthroid
• get dressed and go upstairs for bathroom stuff
• do my 5 min meditation/stretching in the family room
• grab & go snack for Starbucks (the fridge usually has fruit & nuts - prep the night before)
• walk to Starbucks
• journal 2 pages
• write a blog
• and other stuff!

I know myself... and if I have it written down and mapped out in my head, then I've reduced the friction of some of these. I have thought through where I can do my morning stretches and meditation. Because if I haven't figured it out beforehand... it's not going to happen as I stand and wonder... where should I do it? Bedroom? Family room?

It's these small steps in planning and preparation that I hope will make a difference for next time!

Small Choices --> Big Results

Every morning when I leave the house to go to Starbucks for my morning session... I drop my pack at the front door and face a choice.

Am I going to wear my Blundstone boots for a chic, woman-about-town look... or am I going to tie on my Merrell light hiking boots?

The Blundstones are super easy to pull on and normally, for a trip to Starbucks, those are the shoes I would wear. But... if I wear them, then it's a guarantee that I will not be able to do a quick little walk around the local bird sanctuary after leaving Starbucks. The option or possibility of a walk is a closed door.

The Merrell's take longer to put on, with all those laces but... if I'm wearing them, then I am prepped to do a little hike or walk if I choose to do it. The option or possibility is still an open door.

And so, every morning lately, I've been pulling on my Merrell's... leaving the door of a hike or a walk open for me. It seems like a pretty small decision but... it's these sorts of things that have let me get more walks in.

Reducing Friction

There's a part of me that says... well... I could just wear the Blundstone's and bring the hiking boots in the car. That way, I can have the best of both worlds. True... except the idea of changing boots in the parking lot of the local trail is just that little bit of extra friction that... when my motivation is already not the greatest, could blow the door of a hike shut.

And in this business... every little bit of friction counts! Even this morning... I really had to talk myself into taking 4 or 5 minutes to get some frozen berries, thaw them in the microwave, dole out some yogurt on top of them, add some walnuts... so that I could bring an impromptu breakfast with me. The friction would be way less if I just prepped the yogurt breakfast the night before and put it in the fridge. That way... in the morning... when I'm groggy and just wanting to get out the door... the friction of taking a healthy breakfast is minimal. Because... if I end up at Starbucks without something to eat... my level of resistance to the whispers of the chocolate brownie is like... zero.

It's all part of the parking downhill idea... or removing the friction that slows down our desire to do the right thing, make the right choices... or make choices that we know are right/best/healthiest for us.

I've tried to think of different ways to reduce the friction of various habits. For my daily journal practice, for example, I bring extra pens in my backpack so that when I'm sitting at Starbucks and my fountain pen runs out of ink... I just reach into the pack and pull out a back-up pen and continue writing. No friction. 

When I want to edit documents on my laptop, using the laptop mouse pad is just an annoyance. One that I put up with for years... but that also hampered me from doing projects because... it's too hard to do with just a mouse pad. Until... late last year, I decided to bring an extra corded mouse that came with my new desktop computer. OMG... having a mouse plugged into the laptop makes life sooooo much easier!!! And then... my partner offered me the wireless mouse... even better!! I also dug out an old mouse pad so that my little mouse doesn't have to skitter across the naked table top at Starbucks.

I have back-up reusable coffee tumblers in the car, just in case I forget mine at home. But on the odd occasion lately, where I've forgotten my regular tumbler... I've also not taken one from the car. Why? Well, it's too much trouble. You see, I have one in the door cup holder of the passenger door. It's too far for me to reach and grab it from the driver's seat. Too much friction. But now, I've placed one in the rear door cup holder on the driver side, so when I grab my backpack from the back seat... the cup is right there, ready to grab. Fingers crossed that works.

All of these small friction-reducing actions do help me to make better choices and ultimately lead to big results. And lasting habits... because once the habit is ingrained... sometimes you can handle a bit of friction. The habit is so self-perpetuating, that it just blows through little friction speed bumps. Doesn't mean I can totally neglect friction-reduction but... it's nice to know that there is a bit of leeway!