Can You Elaborate the Friction-Flow-Finalization Project Pathway?

00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:03.360 | All right.

00:00:05.920 | We now have a question from Laya.

00:00:10.240 | So Laya's going all the way back here

00:00:11.920 | into the deep cuts of the Deep Questions podcast archives

00:00:17.720 | here and asks about episode number 37.

00:00:22.920 | In episode 37, she asks, you talked about friction flow

00:00:28.960 | finalization stages of project execution

00:00:31.960 | and different rituals to use at those stages.

00:00:35.680 | Could you please elaborate on how this approach

00:00:37.640 | to project execution--

00:00:39.760 | on this approach to project execution

00:00:41.480 | and give examples of rituals?

00:00:44.280 | Well, I like this question because it

00:00:45.800 | reminds me of a good idea I had that I forgot about.

00:00:48.640 | So I'm basically impressed with myself

00:00:51.240 | as I now remember what it was I was talking about.

00:00:53.640 | This would probably been the summer of 2020.

00:00:56.640 | So as a reminder for those who are newer listeners

00:00:59.720 | to the podcast, the friction flow finalization stages--

00:01:02.880 | I was trying to break down.

00:01:04.040 | When you're working on a big project, an important project,

00:01:07.480 | there really are three stages you go through.

00:01:10.440 | So the friction stage comes up first.

00:01:12.320 | It's where you're trying to get things rolling.

00:01:15.000 | I call it friction because this is hard.

00:01:18.480 | You have to figure out what's needed for the project.

00:01:22.280 | You have to gather resources.

00:01:23.680 | You have to get people on board.

00:01:25.320 | You have to stare at the metaphorical blank page

00:01:28.640 | and write those first words.

00:01:30.520 | It is pretty hard to get past that initial friction.

00:01:34.120 | It's not a fun part of most projects.

00:01:36.520 | Ask any book author about what that first week of working

00:01:40.320 | on a new book is like.

00:01:42.120 | But then you get to stage two, which is flow.

00:01:46.080 | Now you're rolling.

00:01:47.040 | You know what the project is about.

00:01:49.160 | You have the resources.

00:01:50.360 | The first steps have been made.

00:01:52.180 | You've got those first indicators of progress.

00:01:54.560 | And now you can lock in and move that ball forward pretty fast.

00:01:58.920 | This is the stage that most people like with projects.

00:02:01.560 | It's where the writer now is at their lake house

00:02:04.960 | and doing 3,000 words a day.

00:02:07.720 | The muse is there.

00:02:08.560 | The words are flowing all as well in the world.

00:02:13.360 | Then finally, you get to this finalization stage.

00:02:15.280 | At some point, as you get towards the end of a project,

00:02:17.580 | there's a lot involved in bringing this in for a landing.

00:02:22.320 | I think my count now is four metaphors so far

00:02:24.400 | in talking about projects.

00:02:25.280 | So this is good.

00:02:26.000 | I'm going to see if I can figure out some more.

00:02:28.000 | But the final stage is, OK, I got

00:02:29.720 | to get the manuscript polished.

00:02:31.120 | We have to copy edit it.

00:02:32.120 | I have to go back and fill in these details.

00:02:34.840 | There's fact-checking notes I need to get in there.

00:02:37.400 | It can be technical.

00:02:38.200 | It can be annoying.

00:02:39.000 | But sometimes finalization can be

00:02:41.160 | one of the most important stages because it's

00:02:43.000 | where you take all this work and you tie the ribbon

00:02:45.560 | around that package--

00:02:46.960 | metaphor five-- you tie the ribbon around that package

00:02:50.000 | really nicely.

00:02:50.920 | And it makes all the difference about how it's received,

00:02:53.240 | regardless of what's inside.

00:02:54.480 | So that's also an annoying stage.

00:02:57.440 | So what I was arguing in episode 37

00:03:00.560 | is that you approach each of these stages separately.

00:03:03.000 | So when you're in the friction stage, the key thing

00:03:05.200 | is you actually have to just put in that brain power.

00:03:08.840 | Because it's a difficult stage, you probably

00:03:10.640 | want to break that up into smaller bursts

00:03:13.840 | that you do regularly.

00:03:14.840 | So when you're really trying to get through that friction stage,

00:03:17.520 | it's every day this week, one hour.

00:03:19.960 | It's just one hour.

00:03:21.560 | So painful or not, I know it'll be over in an hour.

00:03:24.120 | But every morning, 8 to 9 before I go to work,

00:03:26.840 | I'm spending an hour working on this particular project.

00:03:30.680 | So that's probably how you want to think about that.

00:03:33.640 | Timing matters.

00:03:34.360 | Location matters.

00:03:35.760 | Here's my cup of coffee.

00:03:36.720 | This is all about tricking the brain

00:03:39.280 | into actually doing the work.

00:03:41.280 | So that's the type of ritual you want to care about.

00:03:43.840 | This is a different ballgame.

00:03:45.680 | Now you're enjoying what's going on.

00:03:47.560 | Now what you probably want with flow is big sessions.

00:03:52.560 | Big sessions that are scheduled for you to really

00:03:56.160 | get lost in the project and make the really cognitively

00:04:00.840 | demanding high-quality contributions.

00:04:04.080 | So now what I want is Friday afternoons for the next month,

00:04:07.520 | I'm doing these four-hour sessions

00:04:09.120 | where I leave work early.

00:04:11.240 | And I'm going to whatever, the little cabin

00:04:13.960 | I have on this property by the lake.

00:04:15.800 | And I just get lost in it.

00:04:17.160 | So now you're really trying to extract the very highest

00:04:19.760 | quality thought from your mind.

00:04:21.160 | This is different than the friction stage.

00:04:22.920 | The friction stage is there's a lot of annoying stuff

00:04:25.120 | I have to do before I get started.

00:04:26.520 | So I just need to make sure that I put in those cycles.

00:04:29.120 | The flow stage is like now I need

00:04:30.680 | to get lost in the thought and produce the best stuff

00:04:33.680 | possible.

00:04:34.200 | It has to be enjoyable.

00:04:35.640 | It has to be long enough sessions

00:04:37.400 | that I can extract real value.

00:04:39.080 | So probably there you want rituals

00:04:40.600 | built around making this into an almost romantic setup.

00:04:44.520 | You're going to a cool place.

00:04:45.760 | You're spending a long amount of time.

00:04:47.440 | You have the really nice coffee.

00:04:48.720 | You end the day with a bourbon.

00:04:50.080 | Now it's really about extracting what you can from your brain.

00:04:54.880 | Finalization, we're back to friction.

00:04:56.920 | All right, man, what a pain.

00:04:58.560 | So shorter sessions, same time, same place,

00:05:02.320 | again and again and again.

00:05:03.440 | It's about getting back to the cycles,

00:05:05.020 | getting those things done.

00:05:06.160 | I don't want the dragging out of finalization

00:05:08.960 | to drag out this project much farther than it needs to go.

00:05:11.960 | So you're back more towards how do I trick my brain into just

00:05:14.360 | do work, just do work.

00:05:15.320 | It's only an hour.

00:05:16.400 | We do it every day.

00:05:17.520 | Don't even think about it.

00:05:18.600 | We have no choices.

00:05:19.400 | What we do from 8 to 9.

00:05:20.360 | You're back to that type of mindset.

00:05:22.520 | So Laya, I like this question because there's

00:05:24.440 | a more general point that's being made here, which

00:05:26.720 | is how you approach work should depend on what exactly

00:05:31.040 | that type of work is.

00:05:32.000 | And you should be suiting your habits

00:05:33.360 | to what you're trying to do.

00:05:34.540 | So thank you for reminding me about my own genius here.

00:05:38.360 | Friction, flow, finalization, treat those stages differently.

00:05:41.560 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:05:44.600 | [Music]

Can You Elaborate the Friction-Flow-Finalization Project Pathway?

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