We have all been there. Your alarm goes off, you’re tired. You want to hit snooze… but you’re playing your to-do list in your mind and you know that if you don’t get up now, there’s no way you’ll have time to get your workout in before work. Maybe you could do it later, after work?
But you have to get the kids to swimming lessons, then get home to make dinner. Tacos on the menu, oh! And you need to stop at the grocery store to grab the tortillas you forgot when you did your grocery haul on the weekend.
Supper, then homework, baths and bed… your workout probably won’t happen. You need to get up now, but your “motivation” tank? It’s completely empty this morning. You grab your phone, and scroll through your IG hoping to find something that will motivate you to get going.
Instead – you guessed it– you waste your allotted time to workout, scrolling instead. Ugh. Not the best way to start out your day.
Ok, here’s the deal. Motivation is a feeling. It is fleeting, emotion-driven and completely unreliable.
Instead of chasing motivation, build systems. systems that you can rely on day in and day out, no matter how you wake up “feeling” that day.
Systems are repeatable processes, habits and environmental designs that carry you forward even when your motivation has left the building and you don’t want to do the work. They not only work for you but they also work with your life. Nobody’s systems are the exact same, but they do have similarities.
In this article, you will learn exactly why systems beat motivation every time, core principles for building these systems, practical frameworks, real world examples, AND how to get started.
Let’s start with answering the puzzling question of why motivation fails you in the first place.
I already mentioned that motivation is a feeling. Because it is a feeling, it tends to be situation dependent and thus, temporary. I see it all the time with my online fat loss coaching clients– the dopamine highs they get with initial sign up and excitement around their new goals? They fade.
All of a sudden, their workouts are the last thing they want to do, and the donuts that were brought in to work? IMPOSSIBLE to say no to.
This is the willpower trap. It’s a trap because it looks like relying ONLY on your grit and tenacity… and that leads to burnout and inconsistency. Every time.
Because the truth of the matter? The truth is that what you want to do is not the same as what you actually do. This is called the intention-behavior gap, which has been extensively researched.
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear attributes the intention-behavior gap to habits and automatic processes overriding intentions. In other words, if a behavior is habitual, it is much more likely to occur without conscious thought.
Clear also states that the intention-behavior gap is the disconnect between wanting something and actually doing it and closing that gap requires moving beyond motivation but instead to build habits, systems, and environmental support that make the behavior happen without constant effort.
Think about the last time you abandoned a goal. Was it due to a lack of structure? Or a lack of desire?
More likely than not, it was due to a lack of structure.
So often, I see clients (and myself!) state goals they want to achieve, but do not have a gameplan of how they are going to get there, or how they are going to navigate when things don’t go just as planned. In other words, when “life” happens. Because that’s the thing. Life is going to happen. Always.
Being consistent when everything is going as planned is fine and dandy. But that’s not going to last. It’s not sustainable. It doesn’t ensure or prove that you can still remain consistent even when things go sideways.
This is where systems come in.
A “system” in this context would be defined as a set of interconnected processes, cues, and defaults that make the desired behavior the path of least resistance.
I’ve found with my online fat loss coaching clients that there are 3 main reasons that systems work better than motivation:
- Systems result in consistency… NOT intensity. You might be all in and ready to flip your life upside down to achieve your goals on day 1… but the first time there’s a wrench in your plans? That intensity isn’t going to pull you through the tough time. Systems that keep you consistent? They will.
- Reduces decision fatigue- we have all been there. You have no idea what you want to make for dinner or when to get your workout in. Too many options and not enough bandwidth to make a decision about any of it… so you sit and scroll instead.
Creating systems means you will have a plan in place, and decisions won’t have to be made all of the time. Less decisions, more actual execution.
- Systems compound over time- systems result in more consistency. And consistency, no matter how small the habit, adds up over time.
Speaking of small habits. That is exactly where you need to start!
Rule number 1 when it comes to building effective systems: Start small. Ridiculously small.
Do not underestimate the power of starting small. Now don’t think of this as “setting the bar low” but try framing it as setting yourself up for success. Starting with something you KNOW you can be successful at. Start stacking wins as soon as possible.
You can ALWAYS add to it. Once the habit is developed. When the change you have implemented has become a habit.
Next you need to design your environment around your new habits. Think of making the actions associated with your new habit more obvious, and the actions around anything that might be counter to your new habit should be nearly invisible.
You will want to increase the friction associated with the habits you want to quit and increase the accessibility of the new habits you want to instill.
You can use cues to implement new routines. And reinforce these new routines with a “reward” of sorts.
For example: If you want to implement the new habit of drinking a glass of water upon waking you can set out a glass on the counter the night before. When you come out to the kitchen in the morning to make your coffee, you will see the glass sitting on the counter (this is your “cue”). You should then fill that glass, and drink it (your new “routine”). After you finish the glass of water, you can make and enjoy your cup of coffee (your “reward”).
As you are trying to implement your new routines and habits, I want you to focus a bit on your identity around them.
You should think of yourself as “a person who drinks a glass of water before coffee” as opposed to thinking of yourself as someone who “wants to drink a glass of water before coffee”. See the difference there?
It’s minor, and it probably sounds a bit dumb… I get it.
But there is a pretty major difference between the two. We have already discussed how before something becomes a habit there is a gap between what we want and what we do.
Talking about your new habit as an established habit does not leave any forms of falling short or not completing your habit loop on the table. Take the guesswork and “chance” out of the equation.
Now of course, not every day is going to go as planned. And some days you are not going to stick with your new habits. Perfection is not what we are going for here. Consistency is.
This is where you need to build in some “buffers” or systems to account for days that don’t go as planned.
Say you forget to set your glass out on the counter. So you get up, and slip right past the “drinking a glass of water before coffee”, make your coffee and drink it…
GASP!
How dare you!?
This is going to happen sometimes! But you know what it doesn’t mean? That you are off the hook for the rest of the day and you do not need to drink a single glass of water.
No.
You fill your big water jug to take to work and make up for it throughout the day.
Or you fill a glass to drink on the way to work.
Whatever that system might look like for you. You have a back up.
And for the days when things go completely off the rails?
You should think about having a “Minimum Viable Action” system to put in place. This is where you are going to define the smallest possible version of the desired habit/task that you will do, NO MATTER WHAT.
So on days you don’t get time to get your walk in, you have a minimum daily step count that you can walk the hallways to get.
Other practical frameworks I like to discuss with my online fatloss clients are things like:
- Habit stacking (which we have already discussed…. But it’s definitely worth mentioning again, because, well… it works!) You can also think of habit stacking as implementation intentions. Things like, “If X, then Y” planning. For example, “After I brush my teeth for bed, I will set out my workout clothes for then next morning”.
- Automation and tools: we live in a world full of handy apps and technology that can create templates and checklists, organize your calendar and block out certain days/times for your new habits. USE THEM. Whatever it is that will help streamline your processes and reduce friction between you and your new habits. You should utilize it. Now if creating a checklist is something you will print off and never look at again, don’t waste your time. But if it’s something you would find helpful, use it
- Reviewing weekly and adjusting when necessary! Life is going to life. That’s just how it goes. Looking back on your week and being realistic about what worked and what could have been better gives you great insight into how your systems might need to adjust. And adjust, they should! Systems only work if you are able to actually put them into practice. They need to work with and within your life. Not against it.
Ok, now we have talked about all the do’s of how to set up systems that will work for you and with you when motivation has left the chat.
But what about the “don’ts”?
The most common pitfalls I see with my online fat loss clients when it comes to building systems and habits around fitness and nutrition typically all stem from overengineering the system.
You have created a system that is too rigid.
Rigid in the way that if you don’t carry it out perfectly… it’s not going to work.
Perfection is not the goal. Consistency is. If you have to be perfect for your systems to work, motivation won’t be the only thing you can’t seem to find. Your give a crap will follow. And this is where most people call it quits and throw in the towel.
Your systems need to be flexible to some degree. Not every day is going to look the same. Things are going to pop up and change the trajectory of your day, week or even life. You can’t exactly plan for this, but you need to find some degree of flexibility for “LIFE”.
The other common pitfall I find my clients get sucked into, is tracking the wrong metrics.
Like getting hung up on what the scale says, instead of recognizing that tightening up your belt a notch? That’s progress.
Making sure you have several measures of progress (not just outcomes!) will help keep your systems afloat.
If you’re still reading but still wondering how to come up with motivation. I want to challenge you to re-read that question:
“How do I come up with (or find) motivation to reach my goals?”
Asking this question would lead you to believe that motivation must come before any action is taken.
The honest truth?
Action is what will create motivation.
Very rarely does it occur the other way around.
Action towards your desired outcome. This will produce some sort of “result”, which in turn could produce some form of “motivation” – maybe.
Not always.
Motivation still is and always will be a feeling.
Think of it this way though: if you wake up feeling tired, what do you do? You get up, brush your teeth, make your coffee and carry on with your day.
What if you wake up feeling energized? You get up, brush your teeth, make your coffee and carry on with your day.
Sad? You get up, brush your teeth, make your coffee and carry on with your day.
Silly? … I think you get my point.
Feelings don’t always impact action in the way you think they do. Not when there is a solid system in place.
Which brings us back to the entirety of this article.
Take action to implement systems that rarely fail. Systems that work even when you don’t want to.
Freedom from the emotional roller coaster that motivation is. You don’t need motivation to build habits that stick.
THIS is where the magic happens.
It is also the difference between losing fat and keeping it off (because you have a new lifestyle now!) versus losing fat in an unsustainable way and regaining it once you “go back to normal life”.
You don’t need to “feel like it”. You just need systems that start without you.