Our brains are efficiency experts, constantly seeking ways to conserve energy and bandwidth. This kind of efficiency might look like laziness, leading us to feel lazy when actually, our brains are doing exactly what they’re built to do – allocate brain energy properly. In fact, there are ways to harness this to improve our productivity and reach our goals. In this article, we’ll explore how our brains automate processes, the challenges of changing habits, and how we can use the concept of friction to our advantage.

The Science of Brain Automation

Our brains are wired to create automations – neural pathways that allow us to perform routine tasks without conscious thought. These automations free up mental bandwidth for more complex tasks. Consider these common examples:

1. Commuting: Whether you drive, take public transport, or walk, your regular route becomes automatic. Consider the last time you had to consciously think about whether to take a right or a left on your way home from the grocery store – a commute you have made repeatedly. 
2. Morning routines: Many people can go through their entire morning routine on “autopilot.” In fact, when I recently needed to get fasting bloodwork done, I had to put notes on the coffee machine so I wouldn’t automatically make myself coffee. Evidence that this piece of my routine is automated.
3. Workplace habits: The way you organize your desk or approach daily tasks often becomes automated. Most people have a default “go to work” routine even if it’s just go and grab a glass of water before sitting down to work. Or even “start by opening my e-mail inbox.”

These automations are generally helpful, allowing us to get things done without having to use important decision-making resources. However, they can sometimes work against us, leading to habits we’d rather break.

The Double-Edged Sword of Automation

The fact is, our brain is going to automate what it can without us necessarily making a conscious decision to do so. This means that we also develop these automations around unhelpful or even unhealthy things.

1. Stress eating: Automatically reaching for snacks when feeling anxious.
2. Social media: Instinctively checking Instagram while you wait for a file to upload…and now you’ve been on Instagram for half an hour and the file has long been uploaded.
3. E-mail: Sitting down to work and you’re already halfway through your inbox when you look up and it’s almost lunchtime and you haven’t achieved any of your goals for the day.

The Challenge of Change

Even if we know we don’t want to spend too much time on Instagram, the automation keeps running. When we try to break established patterns or form new habits, we often try to do it by fighting against our brain’s natural tendencies. This is why willpower alone often fails us when trying to make lasting changes. 

Consider these scenarios:

1. You’ve decided to work out daily after years of mostly sitting on the couch.
2. You’re finally going to “eat clean” after eating a diet of largely fast food or lots of sweet treats daily.
3. You are abolishing checking Instagram first thing in the morning after doing it every day.

In each case, your brain resists the change, preferring the familiar, automated patterns it has established. And yet, many of us decide to make these changes by just deciding to make them – sheer willpower.

Friction > Willpower

Instead of relying solely on willpower, we can work with our brain’s efficiency by manipulating the amount of friction associated with different actions. This approach aligns with our brain’s tendency to seek the path of least resistance. 

To discourage unwanted behaviors: Add friction

If you are trying to NOT do something (using the examples above, stop eating sweet treats or stop checking Instagram), add friction. Make it especially difficult to do that thing. 

Examples:

1. Use website blockers during work hours to prevent access to distracting sites.
2. Store junk food in hard-to-reach places or don’t buy it at all.
3. Set up a separate user account on your computer for work to reduce access to personal distractions.

Unfortunately (and fortunately) our brains are smart. And they learn. So, if we really want to do the thing, our brains will automate through the friction. So, you need to add the right AMOUNT of friction. As you start to break the undesired automation, you’ll need less and less friction. For example, if you have tried a website blocker that has an “emergency access” option, you may have found yourself in the habit of seeing the warning, clicking emergency, using the app, and repeating it until you no longer even think about there being a blocker. You have simply built a new automation that says click → emergency → Instagram. This is the wrong AMOUNT of friction for the undesired habit.

To encourage desired behaviors: Remove friction

Think of friction as an opportunity for your brain to give up doing the desired behavior. 

So, let’s say you have decided you want to go to the gym every morning starting tomorrow. 

Well, this is what “go to the gym in the morning” might look like:

1. Wake up earlier 
2. Figure out what to wear 
3. Find the clothes 
4. Put them on 
5. Fill your water bottle 
6. Find a towel 
7. Pack your items in a bag 
8. Take the bag with you 
9. Leave for the gym 
10. Decide what workout to do 
11. Figure out how to fit the workout into the time you have…etc.

That’s not even the end but you get the idea. You might take a look at that and argue that each of those is relatively easy to do. And this is true…but because each of those is still a piece of friction, your brain has 11+ opportunities to decide not to go to the gym.

Here are some ways we can remove friction for things we might desire:

1. Prepare your workout clothes the night before to make morning exercise easier.
2. Use auto-pay features for bills and savings to automate financial health.
3. Keep a water bottle at your desk to encourage more frequent hydration.

Gradual Implementation – You Can’t Go Too Slow

Remember if you overwhelm your brain with lots of opportunities to say “no” to the desired behavior and few opportunities to say “no” to the undesired behavior, your brain will catch on! So, be sneaky…and work WITH the way your brain works.

• Think about the lowest hanging “friction fruit”. What is the tiniest possible version of the desired habit? What feels totally doable. You can’t go too slow or too tiny. Is it a 1-minute meditation in the morning? Is it getting up 5 minutes earlier? Is it doing some stretching midway through the day? What feels too easy? Do that.
• Wait until this starts to become your new automation. You’re no longer even conscious of it happening and add a bit more. 
• If you’re new to this, you WILL overshoot and choose something that’s too fast/difficult. That’s ok, tweak until you’ve found the easiest option for you until it becomes an automation.

Wrap Up

If you made it this far, congratulations! You’ve just unlocked the cheat code to your brain’s operating system. 

Remember, our brain’s efficiency isn’t the villain in our story – it’s our superpower in disguise. By harnessing it, we’re freeing up mental bandwidth for the truly epic stuff: that novel you’ve been dreaming of writing, the new business idea that’s been percolating, launching that marketing strategy, or finally mastering the art of juggling (hey, we don’t judge dreams here). So go forth and friction-hack your way to greatness! Your brain’s autopilot is now under new management – yours. Get ready for a smoother, more thrilling journey towards becoming the best version of yourself.