The Myth of Motivation, Nvidia’s Unique Leadership Style, and Decreasing Friction

If you’ve ever told yourself, “I’ll start when I feel ready,” you’re not alone—but that mindset is a dead end. Motivation is flaky at best, and sitting around waiting for it only leads to more waiting. That’s why Reddit user “MindsetDoesMatter” laid out three straightforward rules to break out of this cycle.

They’re simple, effective, and designed to stop you from overthinking and start doing. (Check out the original original Reddit post here.)

Translation: “Just do the damn thing.”

These aren’t hacks. They’re non-negotiables. Motivation isn’t the driver—it’s the hitchhiker you pick up along the way. Or, as one wise commenter put it: “True discipline begins where the initial surge of motivation ends.”

Take our hypothetical friend Jake, for example. Jake’s been “waiting for the right moment” to get in shape (read: sitting on his ass). But one night, instead of overthinking, he goes full 5-Second Rule. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1. He’s up, lacing his sneakers, promising himself one set of weights.

That “one set” turns into three. Then momentum takes over. Forty-five minutes later, Jake’s sweating buckets, imagining a Netflix crew documenting his epic comeback: Couch to Marathon: The Jake Story.

What changed? He stopped waiting for the stars to align and just acted. Spoiler: the stars didn’t move—Jake did.

Neuroscience confirms it.

Small actions—like a single pushup or writing one sentence—trigger a dopamine hit. That’s the same stuff your brain uses to build momentum. One action feeds the next, creating a snowball effect.

The secret? It’s not about waiting for inspiration. It’s about discipline. Show up. Repeat. Relentlessly.

How Nvidia’s CEO Runs Things Differently

Unless you’ve been living completely off the grid, you’ve probably noticed Nvidia’s meteoric rise—its stock is up nearly 200% in the past year. But here’s what’s really interesting: Jensen Huang, the company’s CEO, doesn’t run things the way most executives do.

Jonathan Swanson shared a solid thread on X breaking things down, from no 1:1s to no one-year or five-year plans. Here are a few quotes that caught my eye (and no, they’re not from Jensen himself):

• “The more direct reports the CEO has, the fewer layers in the company…And when you have 60 people in the room who know what moves the needle for the company, it unleashes faster speed.”

• “CEOs should spend most of their time to cultivate new leaders”

• “The only reason he can run Nvidia this way is because he understands level 5 delegation. Direct communication with ground staff. Extreme autonomy and responsibility…At level 5 delegation, your core focus is creating a culture where your team does their life's work.”

• “When you don't have an assistant, YOU'RE the assistant.”

Bits and Pieces

• A few years ago, I first read Stephen Wolfram’s “Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure” It’s an epic, obsessive dive into his systems for getting things done—thousands of words long, and honestly, the nerd in me loved every bit of it. I saved a bunch of highlights in my Obsidian vault, and I’ll definitely be including them in an upcoming newsletter.

• Speaking of Obsidian, I spent this morning going through a video tutorial by Dann Berg on how to set up a Daily Note template. If you use Obsidian and you’re not already using Daily Notes, here’s the gist: each day, you can spin up a note preloaded with whatever you want—questions you want to answer, lists you want to complete—and this template comes with some clever extras. It auto-links to yesterday’s note, tracks notes you’ve touched today, and more. It’s fully customizable and ridiculously useful.

• X post of the week: “Before you try to increase your willpower, try to decrease the friction in your environment.” (James Clear). A few comments on this post stood out, too:

  • “The #1 reason why I learned to play guitar was because I always left it out on its stand beside my desk - inviting me to pick it up and play.” (Darren)

  • “If your environment works against you, discipline won’t save you.” (Kacber)

  • “Remove the friction before you try to push harder!” (Stoic Insider)

  • “Five or six years ago over Christmas break. I tried to remove all the friction in my house. I called them pebbles in my shoe. Have been coasting ever since.” (Zachary)

Thanks for reading. I can’t promise a set publishing schedule right now, but I’ll aim to make each edition as valuable as possible.