2017. That year’s tattooed in my memory.
My business partner and I smashed the jackpot. Half a million dollars, right there on our table. Now, where I come from, that kind of money feels like bagging $2 million in the States. It’s big. Really big.
See, I’ve always had that entrepreneurial fire. That hunger. For a decade, that passion had me raking in 5x the average Joe’s salary in my homeland.
I wasn’t new to the thrill of success. But half a million?
That was a different ballpark.
Felt like the world had laid down the red carpet for me.
“This is it,” I told myself, probably a bit too smugly. “I’ve made it. It’s smooth sailing from here.”
Boy, was I in for a wake-up call.
For the next few laps around the sun, work took a backseat. I lived it up—traveling, indulging, just soaking in the good life.
And why not?
I had the world at my feet.
I figured, with a bank balance like mine, what could possibly go wrong? A few smart investments here and there, and I’m set for life, right?
Fast forward a bit, my pot of gold? Half went down a black hole of a bad business ideas. The rest vanished, living the dream. And just like that, I was back to square one.
I realized I wasn’t the hotshot entrepreneur anymore.
I was sliding.
My once razor-sharp work habit?
Dulled.
Before I knew it, laziness had its claws in me.
If procrastination was a martial art, I’d be its grandmaster, flaunting a shiny black belt.
Ideas? Oh, I had them. Plenty. But every time I tried to light that fire, a wall of resistance would pop up.
My days were filled with grand fantasies of “what could be” rather than “let’s get this done.“
You probably know that feeling too well.
I would imagine how good my life would be once I do the project, but I never moved my lazy ass do actually do it.
In the gritty heart of my procrastination saga, an idea smacked me upside the head: Take on a challenge.
You’ve heard that ol’ chestnut, right? “21 days to cook up a habit.”
Ring any bells?
(It’s a myth btw, it takes longer than 21 days)
I created a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish during those 21 days.
Completely oblivious to my past attempts when I failed with a similar approach with even fewer things
I was pumped, motivated to crush it.
It went like this:
Day 1: Hell yeah! Let’s do this. Result? Nailed most of the stuff on my list.
Day 2: Riding that high – smashed most of the list.
Day 3: Bit overwhelmed, but still muscled through, with fewer things than yesterday though.
Day 4: Didn’t really feel it. Managed half the tasks, thinking, “I’ll just double up tomorrow.”
Day 5: Not in the groove today. Only did 2 or 3 things. “Double up tomorrow,” I told myself again.
Day 6: Déjà vu. Doubt kicked in – can I really pull this off? I felt guilty for skipping.
Day 7: Why the hell does every day feel like pushing a boulder uphill?
Day 8: Pushed through with sheer will but didn’t even get halfway.
Day 9: Same struggle as yesterday.
Day 10: Overwhelm city. So many tasks left.
Day 11: Screw it. Tossed in the towel. Game over.
Too much, too big, too soon!
The next day, I’m there wrestling with that age-old question: “Why could I maintain discipline in some aspects of my life but falter in others?“
I’ve always been able to get into workout habits easily. But, man, things like practicing the guitar, learning a language, or even straightforward tasks like organizing notes? Those took ages or never happened.
And when I took a swing at this challenge again, with only half of the items on my list?
Epic fail, again.
This cycle—decide, get hyped, start, crash, restart—was my pattern for years, trapping me in a never-ending loop.
It continued thus until one fateful day, a single household chore sparked a revelation.. A persistent question that echoed in my mind unlocked what I now call the ‘Frictionless Way’, and it’s this discovery that gave birth to this website.
I’ve condensed my key learnings into an easy-to-follow mini-course that captures the core principles of this effortless approach to habit formation. If you’re ready to transform your approach to habits and productivity, I warmly invite you to enroll here.
Stay updated with the latest insights and connect with me on Twitter, or as we’ve come to know it, ‘X’, by following @Iggystyle. Your journey towards a frictionless life starts now.
Igor Stojadinović