Hey Reader,
That motivation you felt on January 1st? Dead?
We all entered January high on motivation. New year, new me, new strategy, new momentum - this is MY year.
Then reality hits...
The fires burned, TikTok turned off, political uncertainty loomed... Your prospects ghosted. Your ads didn't convert. Your dev team just cannot finish that feature.
New Year. New Me. Got you to mid January! It's not even February, and the cracks are already showing, for everyone, not just you.
Motivation is why everyone signs up for the gym membership on Jan 1. Yet... Every founder finds out the hard way, motivation disappears when the real work begins.
Motivation isn’t the word. It never was.
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HYPER RELATED:
Outcomes: Visionaries do the work to earn the outcomes. Wannabes just declare them.
The Dip: Every startup founder has, is, or will feel it. The gap between all the work you’ve done and the results you’re waiting for.
Motivation Is Bullsh*t
I get more calls for founder coaching in the last 15 days of January than at any other time of the year. Why? Because the energy founders started with was never designed to keep you afloat - it evaporates. How can it be this hard, so early in the year.
Motivation is bullshit. It's unreliable, and always f*cks off right when you need it most.
You know this because motivation never shows up on the 50th failed investor pitch. Never checks in on you when your push to prod explodes. Never sends a positive haiku when your prospects ghost you.
Motivation is just the spark to get you started. A spark not designed to last. Discipline is the fuel that keeps you going, what sustains your efforts. Systems are the engine that makes progress inevitable, whether you're feeling motivated or not. (Momentum is the outcome)
Just To Clarify
Founders who don't want to do the hard work or are feeling defeated build fake systems to feel productive without doing the work. The workflows, processes, and tools no one asked for - they build "scalable systems" despite no scale.
Real systems come from doing the atomic work, the simple, disciplined actions that stack over time. The ones you execute relentlessly every single day.
Atomic actions create discipline. Discipline creates predictability. Predictability creates momentum.
Over time, this compounds into the scalable systems and processes every founder wants.
That's what I mean by systems. Not automations, but habits. Not workflows, but actions. Not frameworks, but execution.
To win....
- The grit to show up when nothing is working.
- The discipline to do the unglamorous, repetitive work.
- The systems that make progress inevitable, even when you're not doing so great yourself.
Systems + Discipline = The ability to do the work when you'd rather do literally anything else.
Don't Wait for Motivation
When founders fail, it's not because the market was tough (it always is).
It's because they froze, hesitated, or couldn't push through when it got hard.
Execution is what fails most founders. Not ideas. Not timing. Not market conditions. Execution.
Capability to execute is what separates you from them.
Think about it:
- A system of 5 customer calls daily doesn't care if you're motivated.
- Backlog grooming happens whether you're inspired or not.
- Daily standups force progress, no matter your mood.
Phenom founders move past relying on motivation and build systems and discipline that keep them moving forward at. all. costs.
The engine is you. Doing the work. Every single day.
SO, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Forget (but don't) the big thing when you're in the trenches. Just do the next job. The next prospect. The next iteration. Build momentum by just doing the work. One tiny thing at a time.
Just maybe....
- One system that drives prospects (5 cold outreach before 9am)
- One process that ensures progress (Daily ship something, anything)
- One mechanism that forces growth (Weekly metrics review, no excuses)
- One framework that maintains momentum (End of day planning ritual?)
Don't overthink it. Do the atomic actions. Do that every (day) quarter. That's it.
Systems don't care about your motivation. They don't have feelings. They don't care about your why. They don't care about your vision board. They just work.
The founders who win aren't the most motivated.
They're usually the most tired, look like shit (until momentum kicks in then they have a glow up) - aged, battered, bruised, and in pain - but through it all (she offers me protection) they're the ones who built systems that made success inevitable when everything was working against them.
Motivation may be fleeting. But systems? Systems never die.
Stay in the fight.
As always, if I can be of service, feel free to grab time.
LFG.
-- James
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