scientifics

Recently, the idea of “friction” has come up a lot in the productivity and GTD community. Aaron Mahnke, a designer and productivity specialist, recently published his Frictionless Manifesto. He defines friction in our lives as:

anything that slows us down or prevents us from achieving our goals

By identifying friction in your life and figuring out how to eliminate it, you can increase your productivity. I have found this to be a great concept for both the seasoned productivity guru as well as those new to the scene.

One point of friction surprisingly can be your method of keeping track of your tasks. Someone new may have multiple systems in use at a time. This causes friction because there is not a “trusted system” established.¹ Even users of an established productivity/GTD system can experience friction when they incessantly tinker with their system.

While it is inevitable that you may switch your GTD system at some point (I did), try to start with one that can grow with you (I recommend OmniFocus)².

The end of the work day is also another place I have found friction. If you are in the middle of a project it can be hard to keep it out of your mind when you are at home. I’ve found that doing a “brain dump” as my last task of the day helps tremendously.

My brain dump consists of a text file in Simplenote accessed through nvALT on my Mac where I simply list everything work related that is still on my mind. This also helps facilitate the making of my morning to-do list the next day.

There are many more areas friction can pop up in your life — relationships, work, family, money…the list goes on. I hope that between this post and Aaron’s manifesto has you thinking of sources of friction in your life and how to alleviate them. I’d love to hear from anyone who has found other sources of friction and how they resolved them.

concept of a “trusted system” comes from David Allen’s Getting Things Done. Having a trusted system means that you have somewhere you can store tasks and be confident that you will be reminded of them when the time is right.

is extremely flexible and customizable which can make for friction. Take some time to learn it and set it up for your needs before you make it your trusted system to minimize adding friction from constant tinkering.