For years as an entrepreneur, when a project stalled, or I felt drained, I pushed harder. Back then, I didn’t understand that biology always overrides willpower because our willpower is a biologically finite resource governed by the prefrontal cortex.
When we are stressed, tired, or dysregulated, the brain drastically cuts energy allocation needed for higher-level reasoning. This means that if your daily performance relies on willpower, your system fails exactly when you need it most.
High-friction vs. low-friction systems
High-friction founders rely on heroics. I was one of them for years, forcing myself to make complex decisions, navigate chaotic schedules, and manage teams while running on biological reserves, without knowing it.
In contrast, low-friction founders design for biological reality. They build systems that function smoothly even on their worst, most dysregulated days. Because low-friction systems conserve cognitive capacity, the brain actually has the energy to process critical moments when they arrive. And when I learned this, it changed the way I run my business.
Match the task to the state
The first thing you can do to build an internal operating system that works with your nervous system rather than against it is to match task complexity to nervous system state.
Map your high-demand cognitive tasks (e.g. strategy, hard conversations, capital allocation) to your peak regulated windows. For most, these hours occur in the morning or after a reset.
Reserve dysregulated or low-energy windows for less demanding tasks (e.g. email triage, administrative tasks, routine updates).
My mornings look like this:
No phone for the first two hours of the day (kept in another room to eliminate distraction)
Sunlight before sitting down at my computer
A clean desk to avoid cognitive visual overload
Noise-cancelling headphones
A two-hour block of deep work
The same coffee in the same mug, every day.
This consistency creates predictability. And predictability signals safety to the nervous system. In that state, deep concentration, clarity, and calm become possible.
Decisions made from a regulated nervous system state are fundamentally higher in quality than those driven by anxiety, fear, or frustration. Mornings are my time for deep work and creativity, not emails or admin duties. Needless to say, I never schedule strategic deep-dives or negotiations at 4:00 PM on a Friday.
Apply these low-friction rules and see what shifts. When you try this, hit reply and let me know: what’s one high-friction habit in your current routine that you could replace with one aligned with your biology? I read every email.
Best,
Wojciech
P.S. Don’t try to change your entire day from tomorrow. To start, choose one rule from the list (like keeping your phone in another room for the first two hours) and test it for the next 3 days. You will see a difference in the quality of your focus.