You Don’t Need More Willpower—You Need a Better System
How environment, habits, and identity-based decisions do more than motivation ever could
I used to think people who were consistent just had more willpower. They were tougher. More motivated. More disciplined than me.
But over time—especially as a coach, and honestly, just as a guy trying to stay on top of life—I started seeing things differently.
Before coaching, I worked as a professional game designer. My whole job was building systems—how things connect, how they work over time, how players move through them. So you’d think I would’ve figured it out earlier.
But I wasn’t applying a systems mindset to my real life. I wasn’t designing my own routines or habits with the same care. I wasn’t building systems—I was winging it and hoping motivation would carry me.
I tried to grind my way through everything. Just push harder. Stack more pressure on top. And when I slipped, I’d fall into the guilt spiral like anyone else.
What I really needed wasn’t more drive. I needed a system that worked for me—not against me.
And once I started treating my routines the same way I used to design games—testing, tweaking, optimizing—everything changed for me.
Now I help other people do the same.
“You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” —James Clear
Why Willpower Isn’t the Answer
We give willpower way too much credit.
It gets treated like some magic fuel—like if we just had more of it, everything would finally click. We'd train consistently. Eat better. Get our sleep, stress, and routines under control.
But willpower is unreliable. It fades when you’re tired. It disappears when life gets chaotic. And it burns out fast when you're constantly using it to fight your environment.
Most people aren’t failing because they don’t care enough. They’re trying to do the right thing in a setup that’s working against them.
They’re surrounded by friction—things that make the right choice harder to follow through on. Cluttered spaces. Distractions everywhere. Long workdays. Family demands. Too many steps between where you are and where you’re trying to go.
So of course it feels hard. Of course the wheels fall off.
It’s not a personal flaw. It’s a systems problem.
The world isn’t designed to support healthy choices. It’s built for convenience, comfort, and instant gratification. And that’s the trap—we think we need to be stronger, when what we really need is to make better choices easier to access.
Success doesn’t come from forcing it. It comes from removing resistance.
Want to eat better? You need a fridge that’s stocked before 8 p.m. Want to train regularly? You need a routine that fits your actual schedule—not your ideal one. Want better sleep? You need a wind-down system that runs on autopilot.
Willpower shouldn't be your first line of defense. It should be your backup plan. The stronger your system, the less you need to rely on grit and self-control.
You shouldn’t have to wake up and battle yourself every day just to stay on track. That’s exhausting. And if it feels like that right now, it doesn’t mean you’re broken—it just means the system around you needs work.
The fix? Build a better system.
Design Beats Discipline
Discipline is a great trait. But it’s not a great strategy.
It sounds noble—“just be more disciplined.” But what does that actually mean when you're already exhausted, behind on sleep, and juggling real responsibilities? It turns into just another way to feel like you're not doing enough.
Most people don’t need more discipline. They need fewer decisions.
The more decisions you have to make in a day, the more likely you are to bail on the ones that matter. This is why setup beats self-control. Because design removes decision-making from the equation.
You don’t need to force yourself to go to the gym if your gear’s already laid out and your plan is waiting on your phone. You just show up.
You don’t need to will your way through better nutrition if your meals are prepped and your snacks are simple. You just eat what’s ready.
You don’t need to wrestle with bedtime if your lights dim, your phone goes away, and the same calming routine starts every night at 9.
That’s not being disciplined. That’s being smart. That’s designing for the outcome you want.
Every behavior you want more of should be easier to do. Every behavior you want less of should be harder.
Put your running shoes by the door. Turn your phone on grayscale after 8. Keep junk food off the shelves, not just off the meal plan.
These sound like small things—and they are. But they’re the kind of things that quietly guide your choices without needing constant willpower to stay on top of. This isn’t about professional-level effort. It’s about showing up consistently for yourself when you’ve got a job, a family, and a million things pulling at you.
You don’t need to feel hyped or locked in every single day. You just need to set up your life so the right choice is the obvious one. Or better yet, the automatic one.
That’s what real consistency is built on. Not raw willpower. Not being perfect.
Just good design.
Become the Kind of Person Who...
A good system doesn’t just change your behavior. It rewires how you see yourself.
Because when your life is designed to support action—when showing up gets easier, when habits are frictionless—you stop relying on willpower and start reinforcing identity.
You’re not just “trying” to run. You’re becoming someone who runs.
You’re not just “trying” to eat better. You’re someone who takes care of their body.
You’re not just “trying” to be consistent. You’re someone who shows up—even on the messy days.
That shift is everything—because identity is sticky. When your actions align with who you want to be, the story you tell yourself starts to change. And once that story shifts, momentum takes over. The effort feels lighter. The habits feel natural. What used to take willpower becomes your new normal.
You don’t need to hype yourself up. You don’t need to white-knuckle your way through. You just need to prove, through small wins stacked daily, that this is who you are now.
Start simple:
Pick who you're becoming—a consistent athlete, a resilient human, someone who doesn’t bail on themselves.
Choose one action that proves it, even on a rough day. A five-minute stretch. A walk before work. A short run you always show up for.
Make it visible. Track the streak. Post it. Mark the calendar. Keep the story alive.
There will still be rough days. But a good system catches you. It keeps you moving forward without the emotional crash, without the shame spiral, without starting over from zero.
The goal isn’t to chase discipline. It’s to build a life where discipline is baked into the design.
So build a system that makes it hard to fail. Test it. Adjust it. Strip out the friction. Stack the support.
Make it so that winning isn’t a question of willpower. It’s just what happens next.
I didn’t figure this out overnight. Back when I was trying to force everything—training, habits, routines—I thought the struggle was just part of the process. That I had to earn consistency through effort.
But effort burns out. Systems last.
Once I started thinking like a designer in my whole life—testing, simplifying, building for real life instead of some perfect version of it—things started to click. Not because I got tougher. But because I got smarter about how I set things up.
You don’t need more pressure. You don’t need more guilt. You need a system that makes it easier to live the way you actually want to live.
That’s the shift that changed everything for me—and it can for you, too.
What’s one system you could build this week that makes it easier for you to win, without needing more willpower?