Monthly Archives: October 2025

Stop Relying on Willpower – Build Systems Instead

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We give too much credit to discipline and not enough to design.

Why Self-Discipline Works Better When You Design for It

After working with countless leaders, I’ve learned something surprising.

Most people aren’t failing because they lack discipline, they’re failing because their environment works against them.

Willpower is praised as the engine of success, but it’s not infinite. It runs out. Fatigue sets in. Focus fades. Even the most driven people eventually lose steam.

If you’ve ever started strong but struggled to sustain momentum, the problem isn’t you. It’s your system, or rather, the lack of one.

 

The Real Problem: Willpower Is Unreliable

Relying on willpower is like expecting your phone battery to last all day without a charger. It might hold up for a while, but eventually, it drains.

That’s why so many professionals sprint toward goals, only to burn out halfway. Willpower fluctuates. Systems don’t.

 

The Smarter Move: Design Systems That Do the Heavy Lifting

When you design your environment to make the right actions easy, success stops being about motivation and starts being about momentum.

You remove friction. You reduce decisions. You make progress automatic.

Here’s how.

1. Automate Decisions Before They Drain You
Every choice you make costs energy. That’s why Steve Jobs wore the same outfit daily, one less decision to think about.
Pre-schedule your day, batch similar tasks, or use automation tools. The fewer trivial decisions you face, the more focus you’ll have for what matters.

 

2. Build Triggers That Spark Good Habits
Habits thrive on cues.
Want to read more? Leave a book where you’ll see it first thing in the morning.
Want to exercise? Lay out your gym clothes the night before.
When your environment nudges you forward, habits form naturally.

 

3. Design Your Environment to Work for You
Environment shapes behaviour more than willpower ever could.
If you want to focus, make distractions hard to reach.
If you want to eat better, keep healthy food visible and the junk out of sight.
A good system doesn’t fight your weaknesses, it designs around them.

 

4. Create Accountability Loops
Goals fade in silence but grow stronger when shared.
Tell someone what you’re working on. Use a coach, a peer group, or even a tracking app.
Accountability isn’t pressure, it’s structure that keeps your intentions alive.

 

5. Measure the Process, Not Just the Results
The best performers don’t just measure outcomes, they track the actions that create them.
If your goal is to grow your business, track daily outreach, not just revenue.
If you want better fitness, measure workouts, not weight loss.
Focus on the behaviours that drive progress, not the scoreboard.

 

6. Remove Friction, Build Momentum
When something feels too big to start, shrink it.
Can’t write a full report? Write 100 words.
Can’t find time for the gym? Do 10 minutes.
Momentum builds faster than motivation. Start small, stay consistent.

 

Final Thought: Design Wins Over Discipline
The most successful people don’t depend on willpower to get things done.
They create systems that make the right thing the easy thing.
What’s one system you could design today that would make success easier tomorrow?

You don’t need more willpower, you need a better design.

Most IT Vendors Don’t Care About Your Success – They Care About Renewals

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How to Realign Their Focus

For many organisations, IT vendors are more than suppliers. They’re strategic partners who provide critical systems, services, and expertise. At least, that’s how it should be.

However most IT vendors aren’t built around your long-term success. They’re built around renewals. Retaining contracts, hitting sales targets, and maximising revenue often sit above helping you achieve your outcomes.

That misalignment leaves a gap, and it’s your responsibility as a leader to close it.

Why Vendors Default to Renewals

  • Commercial incentives: Vendor account managers are often measured on renewal and upsell quotas, not on client success metrics. Bain research shows that despite increased investment in customer success, 75% of software firms saw declining net revenue retention, evidence that renewals often take priority over real value delivery.
  • Short-term sales cycles: Their priority is to keep revenue flowing, which means focusing on contract dates instead of transformation outcomes.
  • Resource constraints: Vendors allocate their best teams to winning new business. Existing clients are sometimes left with “maintenance mode” support.
  • Asymmetry of information: Vendors understand your environment in detail, while many organisations lack the same depth of oversight, making it easier for vendors to control the narrative.

When renewals, not results, drive behaviour, you get check-the-box service, misaligned roadmaps, and technology that stagnates rather than scales.

The Risk of Vendor-Centric Thinking

If left unchecked, vendor behaviour can erode more than budgets.

  • Stalled transformation: Projects are scoped for the renewal cycle, not long-term business goals.
  • Escalating costs: You end up buying add-ons you don’t need while core challenges remain unresolved.
  • Dependency without leverage: Vendors hold the knowledge, and you become reliant on them for direction.
  • Frustrated teams: When solutions don’t deliver, internal stakeholders lose trust in both IT and leadership.

This isn’t partnership. It’s a transactional cycle where you pay more but achieve less.

 

How to Realign Vendor Focus

The good news: you don’t have to accept the renewal trap. With the right approach, you can redirect vendor energy toward your success.

1. Redefine Success Metrics
Build performance scorecards that measure outcomes aligned with your business objectives, not just uptime or response time. Tie these directly to contract reviews.

2. Link Renewals to Value Delivered
Shift renewal conversations from dates and pricing to impact. If a vendor wants a contract extension, they must demonstrate tangible business value achieved. West Monroe highlights that aligning renewals to commercial outcomes rather than sales quotas is essential for sustainable vendor relationships.

3. Demand Strategic Roadmaps
Push vendors to align their product evolution with your long-term vision. Insist on joint planning sessions where your goals shape their delivery priorities.

4. Create Governance Structures
Establish steering committees that include both internal leaders and vendor representatives. Make it clear that oversight goes beyond the sales team. The Customer Success Collective notes that nearly two-thirds of customer success teams are already tied to renewals, reinforcing why clear governance is critical.

5. Diversify Vendor Relationships
Avoid over-reliance. Bring competition into the mix so vendors understand that renewal is earned, not guaranteed.

6. Hold Them Accountable Publicly
Document commitments, publish results internally, and hold vendors to account in front of stakeholders. Transparency keeps everyone honest.

 

Shifting the Balance of Power

Vendors will always care about renewals. That’s their business model. But you can make renewals conditional on delivering value, not just surviving another cycle.

The organisations that thrive don’t accept vendor-defined success. They define it themselves and force their partners to align.

 

Closing Thought

Most IT vendors aren’t built to care about your success. But they will care if you make it the condition for their continued business.

Real partnerships emerge when value delivered is the price of renewal. Anything less is just a contract