The One Engagement Strategy Every Teacher Can Use Right Now
Note: This is an excerpt from my new book, The 27 Principles of Engagement: The Timeless Art of Capturing Attention. You can get the Audiobook for FREE here. This is Principle 16: Engagement Requires Just Enough Friction.
The most engaging learning happens at the edge of comfort. If a task is too easy, students coast in boredom. If it’s too hard, they withdraw in frustration. The sweet spot is where friction sharpens focus. It’s where effort is required, but success still feels possible.
Psychologists call this the “zone of proximal development.” Athletes call it “the edge.” Game designers call it “flow.” Whatever the name, the principle is universal. A challenge can create engagement when it demands just enough effort without crushing your spirit.
You can see this any time you play a video game, or watch students play a game. If a game is too easy, the players become bored and lose interest because there is no sense of growth or achievement. If it's too hard, the repeated failures become frustrating and feel insurmountable, causing players to quit. The 80–85% window is the "sweet spot" that avoids both extremes.
When teachers design learning with this intentional friction, students discover that difficulty is not something to fear. It is the fuel of growth.
Bruce Lee: Struggle as Teacher
Bruce Lee, martial artist and philosopher, believed mastery came not from sheer repetition but from carefully purposeful struggle. His teaching was rooted in the idea that friction was the best teacher.
In his training sessions, Lee constantly adjusted difficulty. If a student grew comfortable with a technique, he raised the challenge. This would sometimes be increasing the speed, adding unpredictability, or shifting stance mid-movement. If a student looked defeated, he reduced intensity a bit, rebuilt confidence, and then pushed again.
Lee famously said, “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
To him, difficulty was not a barrier but the pathway to mastery. He trained students to embrace the discomfort of friction, to see sweat and strain as signs of progress.
His philosophy extended beyond martial arts. Lee taught that life itself demanded adaptability. “Be water,” he said, meaning learners must flow around obstacles but also feel the resistance that shapes them. His genius was in designing just enough difficulty because too little led to stagnation, and too much led to defeat. Under his guidance, students felt engaged because the next level always seemed within reach.
Lev Vygotsky: The Zone of Proximal Development
In the early 20th century, Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky gave educators a concept that still shapes classrooms today: the zone of proximal development (commonly referred to as ZPD).
Vygotsky observed that children learn best when challenged just beyond what they can do independently, provided they receive the right guidance or support. Too easy, and there is no growth. Too hard, and frustration overwhelms. But in the ZPD engagement flourishes.
Imagine a child who can solve simple addition problems alone but struggles with multi-step word problems. Left alone, the child gives up. But with a teacher’s hints (drawing pictures, breaking steps down) the child succeeds. Over time, the once-impossible problem becomes manageable, and the ZPD shifts upward.
Vygotsky also emphasized scaffolding, where temporary supports are provided by teachers, peers, or tools (yes tech tools do this well). Like scaffolding around a building, these supports are removed as the learner grows stronger. The struggle remains, but it is calibrated struggle.
His insight reminds us that friction is not failure. It is design. A good teacher does not remove difficulty, they shape it so that learners can grow.
A Few Practical Applications
Math Problems at the Edge. In an eighth-grade algebra class, the teacher carefully sequences problems. Students start with accessible equations, then progress to tougher ones requiring multiple steps. One boy groans: “This one’s impossible.” The teacher smiles: “If it feels hard, your brain is building.” He sticks with it and watches a video example again. What follows is more erasing, retrying, and finally solving. The sigh of relief, followed by a grin, is evidence of engagement born from friction.
Reading with a Stretch. A third-grade teacher places students in book clubs. Each group receives texts just above their comfort level. At first, frustration flickers as they stumble over vocabulary. But with peer support and teacher nudges, comprehension begins to grow. One girl reflects: “I like when it’s a little difficult, because then I feel proud.” That pride fuels motivation more than any sticker chart could.
Science Labs with Uncertainty. In a high school physics class, instead of providing step-by-step instructions, the teacher gives only a question: “How can you measure acceleration with the tools on your table?” Students argue, experiment, fail, and try again. Friction drives curiosity. The discovery that comes after struggle sticks longer than a lecture.
History Debates. A middle school teacher asks: “Was the American Revolution inevitable?” Students start to debate, because there’s no simple answer. But as they wrestle with primary sources, clash in arguments, and refine positions, their energy rises. The difficulty transforms into engagement.
Art Studio Friction. In a high school art class, students are asked to create portraits using only geometric shapes. They complain at first that “This looks weird.” But as they wrestle with the limitation, creativity happens. Friction forces them into originality.
Kids, and all humans, learn when we are stretched just enough. It doesn’t matter the age, subject, or timeline. Building some friction into the learning can create high attention and high commitment, which are the building blocks of engagement.
When the Principle Is Ignored
When classrooms remove friction entirely, students disengage. Worksheets filled with repetitive problems, lectures without challenge, or projects designed only for easy completion points. It screams to the kids that your effort doesn’t matter. Boredom creeps in, and students disengage not because they can’t, but because they aren’t asked to.
On the other extreme, when friction is excessive. This was me as a teacher my first few years. I created tasks far beyond ability, the pacing was too fast, and many scaffolds were completely absent. Many of my students shut down. Frustration signals impossibility, not growth, and leads to disengagement.
When the Principle Is Embodied
Bruce Lee embodied calibrated struggle in martial arts. Vygotsky defined it in psychology and pedagogy. In both cases, friction was not an accident but an intentional design.
Classrooms that embrace this principle are filled with focused energy. Students groan, scribble furiously, argue with peers, erase mistakes, try again…and finally cheer when success comes. Engagement increases because the challenge mattered.
What You Can Do Right Now
Tiered Challenges. Provide tasks at multiple levels of difficulty. Let students self-select their starting point and encourage them to climb higher.
“Goldilocks” Questions. Frame questions that are not too easy or too hard but “just right,” requiring effort and thought.
Scaffolded Struggle. Break complex tasks into steps, offering supports that fade gradually so students experience friction without despair.
Choice in Challenge. Offer parallel tasks. Make it as simple as one easier, one harder, and both meaningful. Students often surprise teachers by choosing the stretch.
Normalize a Bit of Frustration. Use classroom language that honors struggle: “This feels tough, that means your brain is growing.”
Reflect on Struggle. After challenging tasks, ask students: “What was hardest? How did you push through?” Reflection cements resilience.
These simple changes help shift the culture from avoiding hard things to embracing challenge as growth. As a teacher and designer, our goals is to make sure we help students live in that 80 percent sweet spot during these changes.
Before You Jump In…
Friction is not automatically good. Pile on too much, and students collapse under discouragement. Leave them in frustration too long, and they disengage permanently.
The reversal is responsiveness. Teachers must monitor closely, adjusting difficulty in real time. This is also where adaptive technology and AI tools come into play. They can help the monitoring and adapting in real time. For our students, what is challenging today may be easy tomorrow. The art of teaching is in the calibration.
Final Thoughts
Every learner needs friction. Muscles grow when strained, minds expand when stretched, characters strengthen when tested. But friction must be purposeful, not careless.
Bruce Lee taught that struggle is the path to mastery. Vygotsky showed that the right balance between independence and guidance unlocks engagement. Both remind us that growth does not come from ease but from the right level of struggle.
In classrooms, this principle transforms how students see challenge. A groan becomes a sign of learning, not defeat. A furrowed brow becomes evidence of thinking, not failure. A breakthrough after persistence becomes a source of pride that fuels more effort.
Beyond school, the lesson is true in life. In workplaces, the most engaging jobs challenge employees just enough to grow skills without overwhelming them. In sports, athletes train at the edge of capacity, never comfortable, always stretched. And in our lives, the ability to embrace friction (rather than completely avoid it) builds resilience, adaptability, and confidence.
Find that sweet spot where learning becomes irresistible. Not because it is easy, but because it is earned. That’s where true engagement happens.
