Welcome to 2023: Embrace friction to foster progress

A weekend before Christmas had me thinking about a lot…

I’m currently in a place where I have to put in so much effort to achieve my goals, or at least most of them: time management, empathy, emotional intelligence, patience, understanding, caring for three kids (not mine), organisation, etc. It behoves me to understand the reason why so many people; teenagers, youths, and the aged in some countries suffer from mental illnesses. They seem to not know how to handle these situations, which I refer to as “friction.”

Is it true that friction can stall progress?

We were taught in school that friction is required for movement; otherwise, a car without frictional tyres would be overly slippery on a wet floor, the glass in your palm would slip and fall, and you wouldn’t have a firm balance on the ground if the soles of your feet, shoes, and flip flops were without friction. Without it, the aircraft won’t halt after touchdown.

We know friction works in the opposite direction of a moving object.

Imagine driving on an icy or wet floor; you won’t have a smooth drive. Friction would have little or no impact.

Bringing this home, the fact is that we actually do need friction in our daily lives.

It may look as if, with friction, progress is stalled or slow-paced, since it would require more strength, effort, and active involvement for mobility. This can be tiring and cause wear and tear, speed reductions, or incur expenses. On the other hand, less friction would mean less control and less organisation.

However, we can also see the relevance of friction in the minute things we do. In fact, without it, it seems we can barely make progress. Can you stick with me?

Friction can show up in diverse ways. In school, it could be seen as school tasks and assessments or the fear of failing. In life, it could be your weaknesses: indecisiveness, challenges at home, bad friendships, the kids at home, and bad habits. In your relationship, it could be insecurity, anger, or mistrust. In society, it could be inflation, insecurity, or the media. In a business or professional environment, it could be a riling boss, underperforming staff, being afraid to speak up, insensitive comments made towards you, etc.

Assuming someone in the workplace is given a novel task that they haven’t done before, what do you think such a person should do? Jump to work immediately with the little information they have, hoping there’ll be a miracle ahead, right? No. That would mean less friction because, they would spend more time running around in circles, in comparison to someone who spends an hour researching what is expected of the task and then spends 30 minutes completing it. In the latter case, your progress while researching may appear to have slowed, but the task will be completed much faster. Such a person is a sharpshooter. This is how we benefit from friction; it helps us to propel faster, throw farther and make huge improvements.

People want to avoid the idea of trying to change their situation because it often entails taking responsibility—that is, accepting responsibility for their pace, walk, work, growth, lives, and actions. They would prefer gliding with the slippery currents instead of putting in the extra effort to go against them. These are people who might also think adverse circumstances happen to them by default, but guess what? Don’t miss me here.

Are you ready?

The things you might see as inhibiting your advancements in your life—friendships, relationships, academics, family, personal goals, a lack of savings, and organisation—are there for you to improve on and not to be left to run your life by default.

They’re the “cog in the wheel.” They might be termed minor, but they are a very necessary part of your life.

The longer you wait to address these weaknesses or challenges, the less control you will have over the things that are meant to have a significant impact on your life in the short term.

These things seem to stall your progress, but they’re there so you can improve. Even if you think there are some that are immutable, in that case, you have to outgrow them.

I know skating on the icy floor this winter can be fun, but it would be less fun when you couldn’t stop anymore.

It can be fun to start that negative habit, but did you know that when that habit consumes you, it could lead to mental stress? It won’t be fun anymore when you can’t stop.

Guess what, when next you see such friction around you, you might even be in one right now, just remember “without friction, there’s no progress”

Friction helps you study a situation to know how to offer solutions.

Friction is necessary for movement. It will always be there. It has come so you could become more decisive, be in charge of your own pace and habits, and tame your anger instead of letting others, your environment, or situations control you.

Welcome to 2023. Embrace friction to foster progress.

Victory Isen

Victory is an entrepreneur who is passionate about people development. Being the best of himself at all times is his innate craving. Victory paints real-life stories and scripts under the guise of poetry, motivation and creativity.