3 Vital Lessons I’ve Learned By Embracing Friction To Achieve My Goals

Friction is a force that opposes movement.

It’s the things that block you from achieving your goals. Without resistance, you don’t grow, and without growth, you swim in a sea of complacency. My best results have come from the land of difficulty.

I hated to write, but I learned to love it. I’ve had to navigate complex leadership challenges to build the right team. Despite being an introvert, I pushed myself to learn sales and close multi-million dollar deals.

Resistance isn’t some mental toughness exercise; the best things in life come from friction.

Lesson 1: Nothing Good Comes From The Easy

As Steph Smith writes in her Tweet, “nothing worth having comes easy.”

Success happens over many years of sacrifice, failure, hard work, and lots of friction. It’s the growth that happens inside you as you continue to seek challenges.

If you want something easy, be comfortable with a life of complacency (for some, that’s okay, but that’s not me).

Lesson 2: There’s No Growth In The Comfort Zone

In high school, I had a coach who wore a bright blue shirt that said, “There’s no growth in the comfort zone.”

I regularly think about this quote. It’s the daily strain against resistance that builds strong muscles. You don’t stop working out when you’re a little sore. You recover and keep training to get stronger, faster, and better.

Growth is never achieved in the comfort zone.

Lesson 3: It Prepares Your For Hardship

Stoicism preaches Premeditatio Malorum, which is an exercise where one imagines things going wrong in our life.

Daily friction is similar. It builds mental strength over time.

“We don’t always get what is rightfully ours, even if we’ve earned it. Not everything is as clean and straightforward as we think they may be. Psychologically, we must prepare ourselves for this to happen,” explains The Daily Stoic.

Life isn’t “easy,” nor should it be. You have to fight for what you want.

Being complacent and complaining about other people’s success or how hard things are is an excuse not to keep fighting. It’s an excuse to take the easy route.

Embrace the friction.

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