Productivity isn’t about willpower or motivation. It’s about building the right environment (i.e. systems) to support your goals.
For years, I worked harder than ever and ground through endless tasks but still ended most days feeling behind and frustrated. It wasn’t a lack of discipline. It was that my “system” was just a chaotic pile of to-dos with no connection to what actually mattered.
The shift that changed everything
I stopped trying to “try harder” and built a Life OS in Notion, a single home linking my life aspirations → goals → projects/routines → daily actions. No more scattered lists. Now every checkbox ties to my bigger picture, turning small steps into steady progress.
In 2019, I discovered Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning and wove in meditation, affirmations, visualization, reading, exercise, and journaling. These became my daily “boot-up,” grounding me before chaos hit.
The evening routine that designs my days
The real game-changer? My evening shutdown: review the day, capture improvements (no self-beating), then plan tomorrow and choose one top priority to tackle first thing. Weekly/monthly/yearly reviews in Notion keep it aligned, including relationship goals like date nights and kid time.
That steady compounding? It fueled breakthroughs across my life, including going full-time in my business this May 2025.
If you’re exhausted from feeling “busy but stuck”…
You don’t need more willpower. You need a system that makes right actions easier.
Tonight: Plan tomorrow’s one most important task. Put it where you can’t miss it.
That’s the start of a system. Build onto it over time, and you’ll see how systems beat motivation—every single time.
