Winter is an interesting season.

It’s a season that will either make or break you.

This winter almost… I almost fell off track.

How?

My body wanted to stay in the warmth of my bed more than anything else.

My alarm would go off at 5:00 or 5:30 (depending on the day).

Most mornings, I’d snooze it and sleep in a little more.

Other mornings, I’d get up. Only to go to the bathroom and sneak back into bed.

It didn’t help that it was still so dark at 5:00 either.

It was a problem.

The reason I was waking up at 5:00 was to do my morning routine and start the morning with intention.

But between the cold of the morning air and the warmth of my electric blanket, my morning routine was nowhere to be found.

I started thinking I was having a motivation or discipline problem.

This was quickly ruled out when I’d wake up at 3:00 to finish assignments.

There was a flaw in my system. And so I made a small change.

Instead of brushing my teeth after my shower, I brushed them immediately after waking up.

That small action changed everything.

It gave me what I needed to push past the temptation of getting back into bed. Instead, I was waking up on time to do my morning routine.

This change did something significant: it removed the need to negotiate with motivation. Or how I felt. In doing so, it made following through and execution inevitable.

In this newsletter, I want to explain why you don’t need motivation to take action and why building systems — specifically habits — is so powerful.

Motivation Is Temporary

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You have a goal.

You create a plan on how to achieve that goal.

You’re fired up and excited.

You start taking action.

For a while, everything clicks.

Then life happens:

• You stay up late doing some work.

• You go out with friends and drink a little too much.

• Your energy dips

• You hit a plateau

Then, as quickly as your motivation came, it fades.

Soon, it takes more effort to go after your goal, and you stop taking action.

How many times has this cycle repeated itself in your life?

Most failures aren’t caused by laziness, but rather by design.

Design? How?

You designed a life where you only take action when you are motivated to.

Whether that motivation is towards something positive, a promotion at work

Or negative, not wanting to fail a test.

It’s because of this that things usually go wrong:

• You wait until you feel ready.

• You confuse discipline with being something you ‘forced’ yourself to do.

• You overcomplicate and overthink.

• You have to exert conscious effort to do things, which takes mental energy.

Simply put, motivation is temporary. It’s the spark that gets things started, but it doesn’t keep things going.

The People You Admire Don’t Rely On Motivation

The people you admire or think of as “highly motivated” or “super disciplined” don’t rely on motivation.

They don’t treat it as the fuel that gets them going.

Instead, they treat it like an extra.

Nice to have when it shows up, but never essential.

So what did they do instead?

They built systems that make execution automatic, whether they feel like it or not.

When you begin pursuing a goal, you’re optimistic, motivated and frankly a little naive.

That helps.

But the moment you hit resistance, your brain looks for ways to avoid the discomfort.

The simplest solution it finds is: remove the goal.

So you quit and tell yourself you have a motivation problem.

But here’s the thing:

You won’t always feel like doing the hard work.

Your dreams won’t wait for you to feel ready.

Motivation helps you start; systems keep you going.

Most people: Motivation > Systems

High-performers: Systems > Motivation

When you act, even in small ways, you generate energy, clarity, and momentum.

Motivation follows action.

That’s why high-performers appear more motivated.

It’s not because they were born lucky, but because they’ve designed systems for their lives.

Systems that make taking action easy.

They understand that the reliable path to motivation is to move first, feel later.

And that’s where systems come in. They remove the need to negotiate with oneself.

They take “Should I? Do I feel like it? Maybe later” off the equation.

Without systems, you’re going to negotiate with motivation every single day.

With systems, you don’t need to think about it — you do it.

Remember:

High-performers treat motivation like a bonus.

A nice-to-have, but not required.

They don’t wait for inspiration.

They create it by designing systems.

Winning with the 'Smallest' Systems

Your life is the culmination of choices.

Habits are choices that have become unconscious because you’ve made them so many times. Your brain wants to conserve as much energy as it can, so it automates the process with habits.

And if you use James Clear’s Habit Loop framework and the Four Laws of Behaviour Change:

You’ll notice that there’s a series of steps. A process. A system.

Habits are systems.

The simplest, but most powerful and influential system you can build.

Habits are systems in disguise.

Every habit you build is a vote for the person you want to become. Every system you install is a predictable way to achieve consistent results.

So instead of trying to be more motivated, build new habits. By building new habits, you build the systems that will lead you to your goals.

Habits are the underlying, invisible systems are like the plumbing in your house.

When you open the tap, you don’t think about where the pipes are or how the water flows through the pipes.

You open and expect water to come out the other side because you trust the system.

It’s only when water doesn’t come out that you question the system.

The same applies to your habits.

When you build the right habits, you expect certain outcomes.

You don’t wait for motivation or discipline, you just ‘do’ the habit.

Think about it:

• If you habitually write for one hour each morning, publishing content consistently isn’t a struggle. It’s inevitable.

• If you habitually plan your week every Sunday, clarity isn’t occasional. It’s inevitable.

• If you habitually shut down your laptop at 6 pm, burnout isn’t looming. Recovery is inevitable.

Habits make success sustainable because they are an unconscious system.

They outsource consistency from your mood to a way of operating.

An operating system.

That’s why the people who achieve big things don’t look like they’re grinding 24/7.

They’re not waiting for motivation.

They’ve built systems that align with their goals.

They’ve built habits.

And here’s a paradox of systems:

Systems don’t restrict freedom — they create it.

When you treat your habits as systems and build them intentionally:

• You reduce stress and regret because outcomes are less dependent on motivation.

• You reduce decision fatigue. You have fewer moments of “should I or shouldn’t I?”

• You compound tiny wins into serious outcomes over months and years.

• You free cognitive bandwidth for strategy and creativity.

• You act because it’s who you are.

When the fundamentals of your life are automated, you have more capacity for the things that do require more energy and effort.

The result?

Reliable progress. Less stress. Unshakable confidence.

You stop being someone who “isn’t motivated enough.”

Instead, you become one of those people you admire.

Someone who goes after what they want.

Habits aren’t limiting.

They create the structure that gives you freedom.

(If you want to go deeper into building habits that stick, you can check out this newsletter.)

Your Habits Don’t Have To Be Complicated

Your habits and systems don’t have to be complicated.

They can be simple.

As simple as a checklist.

A few years ago, I started training in kickboxing.

And very quickly, I ran into a problem:

I would forget to pack something.

This time, my hand wraps.

Sometimes, my flip flops.

Once, I forgot my entire toiletry bag.

It would mess up my practice sessions or my entire day (having to rush back home to shower before going to campus).

So I did something so simple.

But it changed my life for the better.

I made a checklist.

This checklist had everything I’d need to have in my bag.

Every night as I packed, I’d tick off the list.

Soon, forgetting stuff became a thing of the past.

I got so good at it, I began to check things off mentally without using the checklist (but I would still use it to double-check, because human memory isn’t always the best).

The checklist didn’t just save me stress — it made my results inevitable.

That’s the power of systems.

The power of habits.

When you build the right systems and habits, you remove so much friction in your life, and progress towards your goals is inevitable.

Building Systems > Relying Motivation

Here’s how to start building systems through habits that make winning inevitable:

Step 1: Identify the Friction Point

Which area of your life do you rely on motivation for?

This is your friction point.

• Waking up early?

• Going to the gym?

• Starting deep work on time?

• Posting content consistently?

Choose ONE area to start.

Step 2: Audit Your Current System

Every outcome is the result of a chain of actions or processes, even if it’s unintentional.

• Sleeping late = phone in bed + no cut-off time.

• Missing workouts = gym bag not packed + late nights.

Write down your current loop. What’s keeping you stuck?

Step 3: Redefine the Outcome

Get clear on what success looks like in this area.

• “I wake up at 6 am without snoozing my alarm.”

• “I publish 2 posts per week.”

• “I’m in the gym by 7 am, 3x a week.”

Step 4: Apply James Clear’s Models

Habit Loop:

Cue → Craving → Response → Reward

The Four Habits of Behaviour Change:

• Make it obvious. Attach to a clear trigger.

• Make it attractive. Make it appealing so you want to do it.

• Make it easy. Start ridiculously small.

• Make it satisfying. Reward yourself.

Step 5: Design the Environment

Prep the environment so action becomes the default.

Examples:

• Put your gym shoes by your bed if you want to go to the gym consistently.

• Have your writing doc ready before you sleep, so it’s the first thing you open in the morning.

• Have your desk clean and tidy for your deep work sessions.

• Remove junk food from your house if you want to eat healthier.

Step 6: Commit to Consistency, Not Intensity

Forget big bursts.

Focus on small wins.

Focus on winning daily.

• 5 DMs daily is better than 20 DMs on Friday.

• Writing 15 minutes daily is better than 2 hours once a week.

• 10 minutes of walking daily is better than trying to do 10k steps straight out the gate.

Consistency compounds.

As you get into the habit of doing the activity daily, you’ll increase how much of it you do.

And that will become your new baseline.

A new baseline that will compound too.

A system is about repeatability, not perfection.

Motivation is temporary.

Systems are long-lasting.

They are adaptable.

If you want inevitable success, stop waiting to feel ready.

Stop waiting for perfect conditions.

Build systems that carry you forward — even on your worst days.

You don’t need more motivation. You need better systems.

Systems remove the reliance on motivation and make execution automatic.

And success is not achieved through motivation, but through what you repeatedly do.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you in the next one.

— Shana

p.s. If you want help designing systems that help you overcome burnout and live a high-performance life and execute consistently, you can apply to work with me 1-1 here.