Name what slowed you down and start fixing it
today's friction log lets you record daily obstacles — meetings, context switching, low energy, interruptions — to identify patterns and improve your working conditions.
What friction tracking reveals about your workday
Friction is anything that slows down good work: too many meetings, constant context switching, a depleted energy state, unexpected interruptions, unclear priorities. Most knowledge workers experience friction every day but rarely name it explicitly. today prompts a daily friction log: one tap to select the primary source of friction, plus a free-text field for detail. The prompt is lightweight enough that you'll actually complete it; the data is specific enough to be useful. After two weeks of consistent logging, patterns emerge that are invisible in real time — the context switching that spikes every Tuesday, the interruptions that cluster in the 2–4pm window.
The five friction categories and what they indicate
today's friction categories are: meetings, context switching, low energy, interruptions, and other. Each maps to a different root cause. Meeting friction typically signals a calendar structure problem — too many meetings, meetings in the wrong time slots, or meetings that could be emails. Context switching friction indicates task sequencing issues or reactive work habits. Low energy friction often traces to sleep, nutrition, or recovery deficits. Interruption friction usually points to environmental or boundary issues. Naming the category isn't just cathartic — it directs you toward the right lever for improvement rather than just logging that the day was hard.
Friction data across the weekly review
Individual friction logs become meaningful in aggregate. The weekly rollup shows friction distribution across the past seven days: how often each category appeared, which days were high-friction, whether friction correlated with low completion rates or low energy. A common pattern: weeks with more than three 'draining' meeting tags also show higher friction scores and lower focus session counts. That correlation, once visible, creates a concrete argument for restructuring your meeting schedule rather than just wishing you had more focus time.
Using friction data to improve your working conditions
The goal of tracking friction isn't just awareness — it's change. Once you have two to four weeks of data showing that context switching is your primary weekly obstacle, you have evidence to do something about it. That might mean batch-processing email twice a day instead of keeping it open, blocking 90-minute no-interruption windows on your calendar, or having a conversation with your team about synchronous communication norms. Friction data gives you something most productivity conversations lack: specificity. Not 'I feel scattered,' but 'context switching was my top friction source on 11 of the last 14 working days.'
Frequently asked questions
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