Release The Parking Brake

Hi Friend,

Once you get started, you learn something important pretty quickly:

The fastest way to go farther isn’t pushing harder, it’s removing friction.

Here’s a picture most of us can relate to.

You get in your car. You start driving. Something feels off.

The engine’s working. You’re pressing the gas. But the car just isn’t moving the way it should.

Then it hits you.

The parking brake is on.

In that moment, you don’t press the accelerator harder. You don’t tell yourself to try more. You release the brake.

That’s friction.

And most of us are living our lives with the parking brake still engaged.

We already know what we want to do.

• Eat better.
• Move more.
• Be more present.
• Get a little further ahead.

But instead of removing what’s slowing us down, we keep asking ourselves for more effort.

The Apostle Paul put words to this struggle (Romans 7:19):

“The things I want to do, I do not do.
And the things I do not want to do, I do.”

That’s not a motivation problem. That’s friction.

I see this all the time with nutrition.

Someone says, “This isn’t working. I need more recipes.”

Almost always, the opposite is true.

They don’t need more ideas. They need fewer decisions.

Complex plans create friction. Simple, repeatable plans remove it.

• The same breakfast.
• The same lunch.
• A dinner you don’t have to think about.

Sometimes boring works.

So instead of asking, “How can I try harder?” 

Ask, “What’s slowing me down?”

One of the hardest things to do in life is simplify. Complexity is overrated.

• Maybe it's too many clothes in your closet.
• Maybe it's that can of creamed corn in your pantry from last decade.
• Perhaps it's a recipe with 20 ingredients.

Find the friction. Name it. Then release the brake.

This is all a fancy way of saying, "Keep It Paleo!"

Your Pal,

Paleo Nick