Maybe Life Needs A Little More Friction, Not Less
Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.
Today at a Glance:
In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing
Why Your Light Exposure at Work Matters for Metabolism
I Stopped Caring About Results (And Started Getting Them)
“I no longer need the armor; my softness is the strongest part of me.”
In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing
Dr. Kathryn Jezer-Morton
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
As daily life gets smoother, faster, and more automated, escapism has quietly stopped being a detour and become the default. So much so that ordinary human experiences now feel like problems to be solved rather than realities to be lived. Reading feels slow, conversation awkward, movement tiring, uncertainty uncomfortable; with a tap or prompt, much of that friction can be erased, and increasingly, it is. But when every inconvenience is engineered away, returning to unmediated life—thinking, waiting, worrying, engaging—starts to feel intolerable, like a device being taken from a restless child. This is where the idea of “friction-maxxing” emerges: not as nostalgia or screen abstinence, but as a conscious choice to rebuild tolerance for the mild discomforts that come with being human and, eventually, to find humor or meaning in them. Small acts—asking instead of tracking, cooking instead of outsourcing, letting others be imperfect, leaving space for boredom—reintroduce the resistance that makes attention, independence, and curiosity possible. Especially for children, friction is often mistaken for suffering, yet it’s the necessary precondition for learning to read deeply, think independently, and discover intrinsic motivation. Technologies that promise constant ease aren’t evil by default, but when they systematically remove effort, appetite, thought, or uncertainty, they force an uncomfortable question: who are we without the frictions that once shaped us? In an age optimized for escape, choosing friction may be one of the few remaining ways to stay fully present—slightly annoyed, imperfectly engaged, and unmistakably human.
🎬Action!
Intentionally reintroduce small friction in your daily life instead of optimizing it away. Choose one activity you normally make faster or easier, like scrolling when bored, ordering food instead of cooking, or using a tool to think or reply for you, and replace it with the slightly harder, more human version for a week. Let the boredom, effort, or awkwardness exist long enough for something else to emerge, whether that’s deeper focus, conversation, creativity, or simple presence. The goal isn’t inconvenience for its own sake, but rebuilding comfort with effort so that ease becomes a choice rather than a default.
Why Your Light Exposure at Work Matters for Metabolism
Dr. Rhonda Patrick
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
We tend to blame unstable blood sugar on food, movement, or sleep, but an overlooked factor may be the light we spend our days in. A recent study in Cell Metabolism found that simply working under natural daylight, without changing diet, exercise, or sleep, helped people with type 2 diabetes spend significantly more time in a healthy glucose range and shifted metabolism toward burning more fat during the day, suggesting that light itself acts as a biological signal influencing how our bodies use energy. Natural daylight delivers a stronger and more dynamic circadian cue than static office lighting, strengthening nighttime melatonin signals and even shifting metabolic clocks inside muscle tissue, all within less than a week. Importantly, sleep quality didn’t change, implying that light can affect metabolism directly during waking hours through hormonal and circadian pathways, not just through better rest. The takeaway isn’t that sunlight replaces diet or exercise, but that light should be treated as a metabolic input to align metabolism, energy, and health with the rhythm our biology expects.
🎬Action!
Front-load daylight. Get outside or sit near a window within the first few hours of the day.
Work where light moves. When possible, choose workspaces with natural, changing daylight instead of static office lighting.
Use light breaks, not just coffee breaks. Step outdoors briefly during the day, giving you both movement and light exposure.
Dim the other side of the day. Lower indoor lighting and reduce bright screens in the evening to reinforce a clear night signal.
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
At some point, many people discover an uncomfortable truth: the more tightly they cling to results, the more anxious and dissatisfied they become, even when things are objectively going well. It often happens after a big effort or milestone, when the work is finished but the outcome still hangs in the hands of others: rankings, recognition, approval, or numbers that seem to determine whether the effort “counted.” In that waiting space, it’s easy to let identity and self-worth drift toward things outside one’s control. Over time, however, a different perspective tends to emerge. The work itself—the practice, the preparation, the daily improvement—is what actually belongs to us. The outcome is shaped by countless external forces. Athletes who appear obsessed with winning often focus instead on small, controllable improvements; writers who focus on the craft rather than reception tend to produce better work; performers who stop chasing applause become more present. The paradox is that results often improve once they stop being the primary target, because attention and energy return to the actions that create them in the first place. This doesn’t mean outcomes don’t matter, but that they function better as byproducts than as goals. When people focus on effort, standards, and process, like showing up, refining their skills, and doing the work well for its own sake, success becomes something that follows rather than something that must be chased, and when it arrives, it feels less like validation and more like a welcome bonus.
🎬Action!
Re-anchor your effort on what’s fully in your control. Pick one area where you’re currently fixated on outcomes (results, recognition, numbers, approval), and deliberately shift your attention to the daily inputs instead. Define 2–3 concrete process commitments you can execute regardless of external response, like the hours you spent practicing, the pages you wrote, the workout you completed, or the conversation you showed up fully for. At the end of the day, ask only, “Did I do the work?” Over time, this reduces anxiety, improves consistency, and allows results to emerge as a byproduct rather than something you constantly chase.
TOOL TIP
Xikipedia: A fascinating demonstration of how recommendation algorithms work, using Wikipedia as the feed.
FUN FACT
The fastest animal in the world is the peregrine falcon. Biologists have clocked the peregrine falcon diving at speeds of over 311 km/hr. This makes the peregrine the fastest animal in the sky during their dive. However, if we consider that the falcons dive is aided by gravity, the animal with the fastest flight is the Brazilian free-tailed bat, recorded flying at 160 km/hr.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.
