Diane GardnerFounder, Adept Business Solutions · Profit First Professional

Motivation vs Habits - The one clear winner

24 Feb 2026 · 0 min

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In this brief monologue, the speaker reflects on why motivation feels difficult, attributing it to a high mental and energetic 'caloric' cost required to initiate actions. In contrast, habits are described as routinized behaviors that demand far less effort. The speaker argues that leveraging habits can make achieving goals easier, and illustrates this with a personal habit hack: placing sneakers on the toilet seat during the morning bathroom routine so that the act of going to the bathroom automatically cues the habit of grabbing the shoes for a workout.

We have a sign here for some new colleagues who are joining us at the office and got me thinking about motivation versus habits. Why is motivation so hard? Well, the reason is there's a big caloric burn. I have to do this, I'm committed to do it. We have to process it. Where habits are routinized, it's routine. So if you want to achieve an outcome, is there a way to leverage habits? Because if you can, it's easier. For me, with exercise, I put my sneakers on my toilet seat because my habit is to go to the bathroom in the morning, and now my sneakers are in my hand.