Every generation faces its own challenge.
For previous generations, survival was often the challenge.
Food was harder to get.
Travel was harder.
Communication was harder.
Work was harder.
Life contained friction.
Today, we face a different challenge.
Convenience.
The Greatest Luxury in History
Imagine explaining modern life to your great-grandfather.
Food delivered to your door.
Movies available instantly.
Groceries ordered from your couch.
Climate-controlled homes.
Robot vacuum cleaners.
You can talk to somebody on the other side of the world while sitting in your living room.
He would think humanity had won.
And in many ways, we have.
Yet somehow:
- Obesity is rising.
- Debt is rising.
- Loneliness is rising.
- Anxiety is rising.
How can life become easier while so many people become less capable?
Convenience Is Not the Enemy
Let’s be clear.
Convenience itself is not bad.
Technology is not bad.
Progress is not bad.
A washing machine is better than scrubbing clothes by hand.
A chainsaw is better than an axe.
A vehicle is better than walking for three days.
Convenience is a wonderful servant.
The problem starts when convenience becomes the automatic answer to every decision.
When people stop asking:
“What is best?”
And start asking:
“What is easiest?”
The Friction Principle
Every worthwhile thing in life contains friction.
Fitness contains friction.
Business contains friction.
Relationships contain friction.
Parenting contains friction.
Learning contains friction.
Growth contains friction.
The very thing people are trying to avoid is often the thing producing the result.
You don’t become stronger by avoiding resistance.
You become stronger because of resistance.
The Modern Trap
Look at how many decisions have become convenience decisions.
Instead of cooking, people order takeaway.
Instead of walking, people drive.
Instead of reading, people scroll.
Instead of conversation, people text.
Instead of learning, people watch.
Once isn’t the problem.
The issue is repetition.
What you repeatedly choose becomes what you repeatedly become.
Every easy choice trains something.
Every hard choice trains something too.
The question is:
What are you training?
The Painful Truth
The painful truth?
Convenience is slowly replacing competence.
People know how to order food.
They don’t know how to cook.
People know how to consume content.
They don’t know how to create it.
People know how to be entertained.
They don’t know how to be productive.
People know how to complain.
They don’t know how to solve problems.
The skills that once built capable people are quietly disappearing behind convenience.
Reverse the Trend
The solution is not to move into the woods and throw your phone into a river.
The solution is much simpler.
Add friction to bad habits.
Remove friction from good habits.
Delete social media from your home screen.
Leave your phone in another room.
Remove junk food from the house.
Lay your workout clothes out the night before.
Meal prep.
Keep a book beside your chair.
Make the good choices easier.
Make the bad choices harder.
Choose Hard Once Per Day
You don’t need to become a monk.
You don’t need to suffer for the sake of suffering.
Just choose one hard thing every day.
Take the stairs.
Read the book.
Do the workout.
Make the sales call.
Have the difficult conversation.
Finish the task.
One choice.
Every day.
Because capability is built through voluntary discomfort.
The OFB Way
The entire OFB philosophy is built around a simple idea:
Voluntarily choose useful discomfort today so life becomes easier tomorrow.
Training is friction.
Learning is friction.
Building a business is friction.
Leading a family is friction.
The challenge is not removing all friction from life.
The challenge is learning which friction makes you better.
Final Thought
Convenience itself isn’t the enemy.
The problem is when convenience becomes the default answer to every problem.
The painful truth?
The things making life easier might also be making you weaker.
Ready to build capability instead of comfort?
Check out the plan here.
Work full time at your job; while you work part time on your fortune.