Embracing Friction & Navigating the Path of Least Resistance in a World of Silence

So, I begin again, another year. As I finished my commitment to writing for a year, I had numerous people ask me if I would continue to do my weekly posts, and while I originally only committed to a year, I have found this to be a part of each week that is a crucial moment for me to reflect on the previous week, it forces me to slow down and spend time with my thoughts and the ideas racing through my mind. It is, for me, a form of meditation that allows me to clear my mind. This past week was entirely spent in the office, which limited my audiobook and podcast time. Still, I was instead able to make time to take a new course on Udemy to help me further understand and master my Excel skills. This tool has become increasingly valuable as I manage my team and day-to-day operations. As my birthday came and went, I found myself asking again the ever-present question in my mind: “What is next?” This looming unanswered question leaves me hungry, but if you asked me what I hunger for, I would not be able to define it. It has given me pause to ask what else I can do with this Substack page, perhaps start a companion podcast for my writing. I have long entertained this idea as I enjoy listening to podcasts, and perhaps I would also enjoy creating them.

As I have spent the last 12 months learning, I have had many moments where I would find myself frustrated that I wasn’t better at what I was doing. An example would be when I first learned how to use a platform called Power-Bi, a data analytics tool; over and over, I would have to go back to the video material and rewatch it because I didn’t get it. This frustration often resulted in me watching half a dozen videos on this one idea until it clicked. I have often watched videos on brain hacks and/or memory hacks to retain better the information I was learning, and certain things can help one retain the information. Still, the frustrating thing to me is that it all comes down to the reps you put in. I wanted to find a shortcut to learning these things, but ultimately, it came down to just doing the work. The ironic part is that if I had taken the time I spent trying to find the shortcut and instead invested in just doing the thing and putting in the reps, I would likely have already learned the skill.

This human proclivity to seek the path of least resistance seems baked into our DNA, and that is the idea I want to explore today.

The Path of Least Friction

Have you ever taken a drop of water and allowed it to run down the length of the wall? What you will notice is if you then take a second or third drop of water and allow it to run down the length of the wall, it will not create a new path but will instead follow the exact same path as created by the first water drop. The new droplets will not venture out to explore some new uncharted territory but instead will follow the path with the least amount of friction. We see thousands of examples of this in nature. If you’ve ever been hiking and saw an animal trail, the result of some creature creating the initial path is followed by many other creatures until it becomes a well-worn path.

I was reading an article a while back that focused on Amazon’s design for success. One of the core principles that was written off was the idea of removing “friction” from the users’s experience. An example of this design can be seen in the fact that Amazon has a single-swipe purchase option. This single-swipe option bypasses the shopping cart and the check-out screens. It removes all possible friction from the purchasing experience. This is a genius design from a sales perspective. Still, it is also sinister. After all, it is meant to harness emotional/impulse purchases of products because it removes the need to think about the thing being down. This is something that many companies have begun to harness. When you sign up for any streaming service, you will find a very similar experience; signing up for these services is designed to be simple and easy, with zero friction. But try canceling any of these services, and you will quickly learn that the process has intentionally been designed to have as many friction points as possible. Some companies will all but hide the canceling process, adding layers of menus and making it intentionally difficult to find. These companies make millions upon millions using these techniques. They count on the added layers of friction and human laziness to keep you from canceling a service that you may only ever use once, yet you end up paying for months and sometimes years.

Why do I share this? One reason is that I think it is fascinating to see how easily we, as human beings, are controlled and how often we allow ourselves to be, even as we know we are being controlled and manipulated. We become willful slaves to these systems. The second reason is that we do something very similar with ideas. We, as human beings, often entertain and even repeat ideas that are outright lies. Some genuinely don’t know the truth and are ignorant of reality, while others know the truth but remain quiet because they are uncomfortable with creating friction. This is the most optimistic version. The more realistic perspective is that many of us are cowards, and often, we know the truth, for it is written in our hearts, but we are unwilling to speak it because we are afraid.

All of nature is bent on following the path of least resistance, and so too is our nature to follow that which is easy and, in most cases, to do the thing that is wrong. The thing I find most convicting is that the silence of those who know the truth often allows for the greatest evil in the world.

“They who do not know the truth can’t be blamed for the lies they repeat, but those who know the truth and yet remain silent at their feet lie many of the greatest atrocities of mankind.”

I find this a very convincing idea, as I have found myself a coward, and I have remained silent when I knew the thing being said was not true. Just as many companies seek to remove friction from our lives to control us and get us to do what they want, so too there is seemingly a friction that has been removed from the world that makes it easier to do what is wrong than right. Yet, some occasionally defy their nature and take an untrodden path. When one person chooses to be courageous and speak the truth, they create an opportunity for others to follow.