Forget Your Resolutions. Build a System.

Resolutions are loud in January. Systems are quiet all year.

In my latest monthly column for the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, I explore why willpower is overrated and why lasting performance, in sports and at work, depends on the systems we build, not the motivation we feel.

My son wants to become a professional football player. Recently, after training, we were sitting in the car when he asked, “Baba, how do I make it?” I thought for a moment and said, “You need to develop the habits of the best professionals today. Not someday. Now.”

I often think of Cristiano Ronaldo. At 40, he still performs at the highest level. Not because he is more talented than everyone else, but because for decades he has maintained the same routines: movement, recovery, nutrition, sleep. Everything follows a system. Nothing is left to chance.

Since the beginning of the year, my son and I have been following our 300 program: 100 squats, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups. Every morning. No discussion. No exceptions.

This fits the time of year. Early January. Gyms are full, resolutions are fresh. In six weeks, that will change. Most people will have given up, not because they did not want it badly enough, but because they relied on willpower.

Willpower is finite. It works for a week, maybe two. Then comes the stressful day, the cold, the excuse. The resolution fades. This is not a character flaw. It is biology.

Our brains are wired for efficiency. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for conscious decisions, consumes a great deal of energy. That is why the brain shifts repeated actions to the basal ganglia, where they become automatic. Studies show that it takes an average of 66 days for a behavior to become a true habit. Once the neural pathways are established, the behavior becomes almost automatic.

What works instead is systems.

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg describes the habit loop: cue, routine, reward. The brain automates what is repeated. If you understand this mechanism, you can use it. Our 300 program has a clear cue, getting up. A defined routine, the exercises. And a reward, the feeling of having already won the day.

James Clear goes further in Atomic Habits. It is not about what you want to do. It is about who you want to become. My son should not “train like Ronaldo.” He should already see himself as a professional. The exercises then become the logical expression of that identity. A professional does not debate whether to train. He trains.

What does this mean for the workplace?

Here too, systems outperform willpower. If you write down three priorities for the next day every evening, you do not need to decide in the morning. If you listen to a professional podcast on your commute, you learn automatically. If you take ten minutes every Friday to reflect on the week, you improve continuously.

It sounds simple. That is precisely the point. The best systems are simple enough that there is no excuse. The barrier must be so low that the brain offers no resistance.

Jeff Bezos puts it clearly: “Good intentions don’t work, mechanisms do.” Good intentions are not enough. Mechanisms are. What applies to individuals also applies to organizations. Leaders who rely on motivation alone will be disappointed. Leaders who establish mechanisms change behavior sustainably and often achieve better results.

Yesterday morning, 6:00 a.m. My son stands next to me in the basement gym. No complaints. No negotiation. He counts the squats. It is simply what we do.

That is the difference between a resolution and a system. Resolutions are hope. Systems are decisions you make once.

The question is not whether you are motivated. The question is whether you have a system.

From nothing comes nothing.