Two Types of Friction

What can high school physics teach you about starting something new?

Dust off your textbooks folks!

You may (or may not) remember learning about two types of friction: static and kinetic.

If you push an object at rest, then you first have to overcome the static friction. Once you push hard enough, then the object finally moves!

As you keep pushing, kinetic friction kicks in. But this is often less than the static friction.

The project/workout/book/habit you always desired to do is similar.

There are many static forces acting against you before you even start:

• Anxiety from the overwhelming number of options to pursue
• Fear that you will fail to look as successful as the person online who did the same thing
• Tiredness from the juggling all the other to dos on your list

However, once you get going the overwhelming static forces holding you back may just disappear enough for you to keep going.