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friction

concept · in 8 sources (2018–2020)

His pet theory: make good habits easier and bad ones harder by changing the environment (phone across the room, apps off the home screen).

Sources by year: 2018: 6 · 2020: 2

Also known as: environment design, the most powerful force in the universe

Questions

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Anki (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2020

  • 2020-06-03 · All the Apps I Use in a Day — Ali: At night Ali charges his iPhone on a chest of drawers on the opposite side of the bedroom from his bed so that he cannot have his phone in bed. — 00:10:19
  • 2020-06-17 · How To Boost Productivity Without Apps — Ali says that to be more productive or build a healthy habit people think they need more motivation or discipline, but there is an easier way, which is all about the power of friction. — 00:00:29
    • Ali's pet theory is that friction is the most powerful force in the universe, and that environment design is one of the best ways to use its power. (overstated) — 00:00:58
    • Ali defines friction as the resistance between intention and action, such as meaning to practise the guitar and practising it: to encourage good habits, reduce friction; to discourage bad habits, increase it. — 00:00:58
    • Ali keeps only useful apps such as Notion, Drafts, Castro, Audible and Anki on his iPhone's first screen; Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and dating apps, the infinity pools, sit on the second screen. — 00:02:26
    • Moving the guitar's default position to the sofa, a slight reduction of friction, has meant Ali has practised guitar for about half an hour a day in the weeks since. — 00:03:24
    • Ali says that once we take in that friction is the most powerful force in the universe we can use it to build good habits and break bad ones, which is what James Clear's Atomic Habits is about. — 00:04:23

2018