The Hidden Problem With Motivation And Willpower

How to Design an Environment That Defeats Temptation

Jun 05, 2025

There’s an old saying:
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

Wanna bet?

I say you can.
Lock that horse in a hot room. Starve it of water for a week. Feed it only dry hay. Maybe even salt its mouth

Then lead it to the river.
Pull its head down toward the water.
I promise you, it’s going to drink.

(Relax! Just as a thought experiment—I have no intentions of animal cruelty 😂.)

But what changed?

It’s not about the horse.
It’s about the environment.

That’s the thing nobody talks about when it comes to motivation and willpower:

Your environment eats your willpower for breakfast.

Willpower Works Great… Until It Doesn’t

It’s easy to feel motivated when conditions are perfect.
A sunny morning.
Pre-workout buzzing in your veins.
You watched Chris Bumstead destroy leg day on YouTube last night, and now you’re ready to conquer the gym. (Been there)

That’s willpower at its peak. It feels unstoppable.

But what about the days when it’s raining?
When it’s freezing outside?
When life feels heavy and everything in you wants to crawl back under the covers?

Suddenly, willpower is nowhere to be found.
Because willpower is like a matchstick—bright, hot, and short-lived…
And when the wind picks up? It blows right out.

We Are Products of Our Environments

I’ve spent years trying to stop eating junk food.

The worst part is living at home when your mom fills the cupboards with as much junk food they can handle, buying in bulk when its on special 🙂
Some weeks I’d nail it. Other weeks? I’d cave and go full snack binge mode… Chips, chocolate, the works.

But there was a time—maybe a year or two—when I was almost completely clean.
Why? Because I lived alone.

I controlled everything in my space.
There were no “just in case” snacks for guests. No temptations in the back of the cupboard. I simply didn’t bring junk food into the house. Period.

If it wasn’t there, I couldn’t eat it.
It wasn’t willpower that kept me clean—it was environmental design.

By removing the root of the temptation, I conserved willpower for the things that actually mattered.
Instead of burning energy resisting Oreos, I used it to push out extra reps on the bench.

Let me say that again:

If you bring junk into the house “just in case” you want it later, you’re not being kind to yourself. You’re planning for failure.

You’re not weak. You’re just not designing for success.

So How to Beat the Willpower Trap?

You don’t need more discipline.

What you actually need is

Fewer decisions.
Fewer temptations.
Fewer variables.

So here’s what actually works:

Make the good choices easier.
Set your gym clothes out the night before. Prep your meals in advance. Put the book you want to read on your pillow. Stack the deck in your favor.
Make the bad choice harder.
Don’t buy the junk. Don’t keep it “just in case.”
Cancel the subscription. Block the site. Unfollow the distraction.

Basically, control your environment, or it will control you.

You don’t rise to the level of your motivation—you fall to the level of your systems

James Clear

Willpower fades.
Motivation wavers.
But systems? They stick.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to feel bad about “not having enough discipline.”
You’re not broken. You’re human.

If you’re struggling to stay consistent, the question isn’t:
“How can I be more motivated?”
It’s
“How can I shape my environment to make the right choice easier?”

Because at the end of the day, that horse didn’t need motivation.
It needed conditions.

So do you.

Now I’m curious:
Have you ever tried to rely on motivation and burned out?
What’s one change you could make to your environment to support your goals?

👇 Drop a comment—I’d love to hear from you.

THANKS FOR READING

— Rylan 🚀