For the longest time, we have known that the best way to achieve what we want is to exercise and eat right, build a successful business/ career, relax, and worry less. This equates to setting specific, actionable goals.
We set goals for the grades, the profits, the income, and when specific events should happen in life. However, the results or outcomes have little to do with the goals but have everything to do with the systems we follow.
Goals are about the results you want to achieve while systems are about the process that leads to those results. Goals are good for setting direction, but systems are best for making progress.
The problem of focusing on a goal
Winner and losers have the same goals.
Everybody in a race wants to win gold or the silver, and sometimes the bronze. No one goes for the lineup without the anticipation to win. However only the first three get the titles; meaning both losers and winners have the same goal. In truth, goals cannot be used to differentiate a winner from a loser. Goals will always be there but implementing a system of continuous small improvements you will be successful.
Achieving a goal is a momentary change.
Achieving a goal, changes your life for the moment. For example cleaning up a messy room for a day and later falling back to the small habits that builds up the clutter. What should change is the daily house keeping trend. That is solving the problem at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.
Goals restrict your happiness.
The assumption is always ” once I attain my goal I will be happy.” You continue to put off happiness until the next millstone. They also create an “either- or” conflict. You don’t do things so freely, you think and overthink before executing an activity. It is more enjoyable to do things that matter without the mind giving the second opinion.
Goals are at odd with long term progress
Once a goal is achieved, motivation and consistency dies with it. The purpose of setting a goal is to win while the purpose of building a system is to ensure continuity after the win.
We easily fall to the level of our system and rise to the level of our goals. Focus on the system and bridge the visible gaps while results fix themselves.