Frictionless

A few years ago I needed to replace my Chevrolet Silverado and instead of purchasing, I decided to lease a brand new 2016 GMC Sierra pickup truck. 

I loved the truck and had no complaints, but as the due date for the end of the lease approached, I decided I was going to buy this time.

Only I wasn’t going to buy new. Have you seen the prices for new full sized pickup trucks?

So, I set a reasonable budget for our purchase and started to look online. 

After looking for a few days it became clear to me I wasn’t going to be driving anywhere near as nice a vehicle with my limited budget. 

I told Theresa, “listen, we might have to go down to one vehicle for while as I’m not just going to settle for any old truck. This might take some time.”

So, we started the search fully expecting to be sharing a car for a while.

The following Sunday rolled around and as we sat watching television she looked and me and said, “Let’s go look at trucks.”

Really I wasn’t feeling it, but since my Cowboys weren’t on television until later that day, I acquiesced. “But, we’re just looking, I’m not buying a truck today!”

We arrive at the first dealership, and after eliminating every truck on the lot I saw a truck I couldn’t eliminate.

Upon closer inspection I thought to myself, “this truck is too new, surely it’s out of our price range.”

Only it wasn’t. It wasn’t an unreasonable distance from our budget.

I looked at the salesman and said I’ll buy this truck with two conditions. First, it needs to fit in my garage. Second, you need to come to price terms with my business manager, as I pointed to Theresa.

So, the salesman got in the back, we drove it to my house, raised the garage door, and carefully started to back into the garage.

Literally, only an inch or two clearance, but it fit! 

As we drove back to the dealership, there was only one left hurdle to the purchase–Theresa’s negotiating skills and the willingness of the dealer to sell at our price.

How’d it go? 

Let’s just say my wife can haggle.

What’s so exciting for me is that although I lost a truck I loved, I ended up with the same year truck for about half the price of the old one, and the more I drive it, the more I love it.

Why?

Keyless entry. Never had it before, but it allows me to leave my keys inside the truck and not carry them around everywhere. 

Automatic lights. Automatic sync for cell phone. 20 miles to the gallon!

Yesterday as I filled up the tank, I opened the lid, reached for the gas cap to unscrew it, and there was no gas cap. Instead it has what Ford calls an Easy/Fuel system. 

Silly as it sounds, I was pleasantly surprised.

As I thought about it I wondered to myself, “why was I so happy when I realized there was no gas cap to deal with?”

Simple. It’s one less thing to worry about. 

Less friction.

As I thought about my frictionless vehicle I realized that everything’s better with less friction.

It’s true at the movies. Too many subplots ruin the experience. 

It’s true with songs. Too many words or too much repetition get the song booted from the playlist. 

It’s true in business. Service department appointments that require a 1–800 call to someone who doesn’t speak English make the experience frustrating.

It’s all friction.

For me, it’s been helpful to view life as I view my writing.

Everyday, as I write the story of life, I try to edit out the friction. 

Like words, sentences, or paragraphs that slow down a story, our daily living requires some editing.

Junk food, television and social media. All just slowing down the story.

All can use some editing.

For the sake of the story.

Maybe, if we do some editing, our life can be more like my Ford F-150 pickup truck–frictionless.