What Is a Friction Budget?
A friction budget is the total amount of inconvenience, complexity, and decision-making you can absorb before quality drops.
It includes:
Logins and passwords
App switching
Tool setup and teardown
Notifications
Physical clutter
Process steps that “only take a minute”
Individually, they are minor.
Collectively, they define your ceiling.
The Hidden Tradeoff
When you add something new, you are not just adding capability.
You are adding:
Maintenance
Updates
Storage
Decisions
Points of failure
A new productivity tool might save five minutes, but if it requires configuration, syncing, and upkeep, it draws from the same limited reserve you need for actual work.
Complexity compounds faster than benefit.
Audit the Spend
Instead of asking, “Is this useful?” ask:
Does this reduce friction or redistribute it?
What ongoing cost does this introduce?
If removed, would anything meaningfully break?
If the answer to the last question is no, you’ve identified recoverable budget.
Remove one low-value friction source per week. Small subtractions restore disproportionate clarity.
A Useful Standard
Your best work should require the least friction, not the most.
Protect your budget for:
Deep thinking
Creative output
Relationships
Health
Everything else must justify its cost.
You cannot eliminate friction entirely. But you can decide where it lives.
Spend it where it matters.