AI and the End of Productive Friction
On what AI automates, what friction teaches, and why better output is not the same as deeper capability.
Rethinking what produces excellence.
Nick Bochette writes about performance, capability, culture, and the conditions that produce excellence.
Featured book
Sacrifice
Why Excellence Is Disappearing and the True Cost of Commitment
Coming November 1, 2026
Most people say they want excellence, but far fewer recognize what it actually requires. Sacrifice examines the commitments, trade-offs, and sacrifices behind uncommon achievement.
Explore the BookEssays
Selected essays
More Than You Think. Less Than You Can.
On capacity, reserve, and the difference between what we can do and how we should live.
The Luxury of Not Worrying
On how invisible competence and care create the ease we often take for granted.
The Ethics of Unequal Attention
On why fair attention follows need, why competence should earn freedom, and why access to help must remain open.
About
About Nick
Nick Bochette is a former professional athlete and Division I head coach. He studied mathematics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and later earned a graduate degree in educational psychology, alongside professional experience outside athletics.
He has spent much of his life in environments where performance was real, measurable, and consequential.
Today, he writes about performance—what it takes, what it costs, and the conditions that make it possible.
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Let’s have a conversation.
I welcome reader correspondence, media inquiries, podcasts, and speaking or event inquiries.