80 · Machines Don't Need Motivation

After a certain phase, what really matters is your systems rather than willpower. What does your financial allocation look like? Your schedule? Your habits? The cold outreach structure you use for networking? What fills the daily work sessions? Being selective about what each time block holds matters infinitely more in this phase. For example: one hour of cold outreach, two hours of A-level preparation, two hours of market and CNBC news analysis, two to three hours of reading, two to three hours of research, two hours of EFDS interview recording sessions, one hour of bike riding, one hour of kickboxing, thirty minutes of high-intensity work — and running that system for over six months. Having blocks that live within you, and being consistent. After graduating from the phase of sheer willpower, it must convert into systems instilled in you — the fluid operation of machinery comes from proper systems interacting at perfect timing and placement, which boosts coherence.

I listen to the manifestations in my soul a lot, and a frequent one these days is: systems. There is a genuine limit to pushing with willpower. Deep down it's counterintuitive, but simply choosing pain will not get you somewhere monumental. Bearing pressure where others break is one differentiating factor — but what else? Understand the phase you're in. Life is GOOD right now: no war, good relationships, sanity, no financial burden, nothing to be depressed about. So change the systems, and be ruthless about the things you don't need — even if it means sacrificing some relationships, having hard conversations, dealing with risk.

Yes, I might be schizophrenic about obsessing over the smallest stuff, but the small improvements in the micro are what change what I get back. And — don't obsess over text size, fonts, all that. It's notes. They're supposed to be messy; that's the beauty of the canvas.

Make life mechanical. Wake up. Past paper. Ten-minute break. Back in the game. On, off, on, off. Ten to fifteen papers with a house playlist on, and I swear you will make progress.

I have session blocks for the day, and during each session I lock in fully on the frog of that block's work.

Journal with pen and paper. Find a good algorithm for reflection and tighter feedback loops. After each daily quarter, record three things to fix and one thing to reinforce. Note the revelations. Same after each day, week, fortnight, month, quarter. Don't just say you'll do it — actually do this.

It's in a sense obvious that you shouldn't stick to a New Year's resolution once you understand the goals were wrong or vague. Goals and pursuits are topologically modelled: the output evolves over time; you change, the visions change, the knowledge changes, and so does your discernment of what carries higher value. Don't be obsessed that your goals shifted mid-process — that's the model updating, not the mission failing.

The one thing that matters is executing the system when nobody is pushing you. People get urgency when their butts are on fire and perform accordingly — but what if you set vows daily and lived every daily quarter like that? Vows that must be lived out by noon, by six, by midnight. And you did that for a decade. Imagine the person you would be.