Last year, my sister asked what I wanted for my birthday.

I said: “A toothbrush.”

(Yep. That’s the kind of wild guy I am.)

But not just any toothbrush.

I wanted to upgrade my oral hygiene game.

The manual one felt medieval — like brushing with a twig from a cursed forest.

I had a vision:

Gears.

Settings.

LEDs.

Something that made me feel like Tom Cruise brushing his teeth in Mission Impossible.

And because my sister doesn’t do things halfway, she went all in.

Top-of-the-range.

Sleek. Sonic. Smart. Possibly Bluetooth-enabled (still unclear).

It basically needed a docking station and a firmware update.

For the first two months? I was unstoppable.

Brushing twice a day. Sometimes three.

Grinning like Bugs Bunny post-teeth-whitening.

Month 3: I said we were “on a break.”

Month 4: It stared at me like an ex who knew all my secrets.

Month 9: Almost a year later...I haven’t used it once.

Why?

Because there’s no charging plug socket in my bathroom.

But just 10 feet away, one lives in my bedroom.

That’s it.

Ten. Feet. Away.

It turns out that it doesn’t matter how fancy the tool is…

If it’s not easy, it doesn’t stick.

The #1 Law of Habit Building

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, puts it perfectly:

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

Habits don’t fail because you’re lazy.

They fail because your environment makes the right thing hard…

And the easy thing obvious.

So what does this have to do with anything?

Well… everything.

How many parts of your life are like my toothbrush?

The gym that’s 30 minutes away (and requires a £2.50 Ringo parking ritual).

The journal you “totally meant to start”… buried under a pile of unopened post.

The course you bought, bookmarked, and never opened again.

We think we lack motivation.

But really, we lack friction reduction.

So… what’s the takeaway?

Make it obvious + Make it attractive + Make it easy.

If something matters, don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

Design your space so the right thing happens by accident.

Your brain loves shortcuts.

So build better ones.

Kia Kaha,
Chris

P.S. What’s one thing you could move 10 feet closer this week?

Your running shoes? Your notebook? That idea you’ve been putting off?

Sometimes success is just a socket away