Set Systems rather than goals
Intro:
Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. I’m your host Neslie Folien and in today’s episode of Self-Care and Hustle I’m going to be talking about why we should be focusing more on the systems we develop rather than the goals we hope to achieve.
For example, a lot of people have similar long-term goals in life which includes making a lot of money, and staying in shape. But if someone wants to achieve these goals, they have to focus on building a system with which they can continuously improve and with every passing day come more and more close to the end goal they want to achieve.
If you guys are still a bit confused, don’t worry the next few examples will definitely make you understand this concept!
So, let’s say you’re a coach of a football team, and your goal is to win the league. Now for the coach the system in this case would be how he will implement tactics, develop players, how the coach recruits players, how often they train and how do they train. Stuff like that.
If there is a farmer whose goal is to produce a very good crop field, then his system would become how often he waters the field, what kind of pesticides he uses, the quality of soil he uses, and in general how often he attends the crop field.
So, what do we learn from this?
Well, we learn that in order to achieve any goal, we don’t need to obsess over the outcomes of the goal instead we need to obsess over the journey we’ll have to undergo in order to achieve that outcome. This is how we can increase our chances of being successful by a lot. We need to fall in love with the process, not the outcome. Because if we don’t, we’ll always stay too distracted by focusing on the glitz and glamour of the outcome of the goal if we achieved it, and we’ll lose focus on what we need to do in order to get closer to achieving that goal. I hope that made sense!
Now let’s talk a bit more about the problems to really get a more clearer sense of how we can balance both of these entities and become successful in achieving our goals.
(James Clear Forget about setting goals. focus on this instead.)
Main:
Well, the first point I would like to emphasize on is that winners and losers have the same goals! I know this statement sounds a bit contradictory but if we really start to think about it, we start to find out that it is in fact true!
There is a huge survivorship bias whilst a person sets goals, which basically means that if there are 10 people with the same goals, out of those ten we’ll only focus on those who actually achieved it and forget the rest. When we only focus on the ones who win, because of which we subconsciously start to develop the understanding that ambitious goals lead to success, which is very far away from the truth.
Ever wonder why almost everyone has the same goal of losing weight, which we can label as an ambitious goal, but only a few emerge successful. Why is that? Clearly setting the goals is not doing the trick, there must be something more to it, which as we’ve talked about previously, is the system you implement. So, this example should give you enough reason to focus more on the system and less on the goal.
Now another thing I would like to focus on is that the goals we want to achieve only last a few moments. Like if we wanted a six-pack, and we were not focused on the system we wanted to implement, instead we were focused on only waking up one day in front of the mirror and seeing a six pack, then the chances are we’ll lose that six pack very easily if we ever get one. If you only focused on that goal, achieved it and forgot about it, chances are you’ll pretty soon lose the outcomes of the goal. But if you focused on the system, the process of achieving that goal you’ll most likely end up retaining the outcome of the goal. In our example of getting a six pack, if you focused on integrating aspects such as a healthy diet and exercising daily into your routine, you’re more likely to stick with your six packs because you fell in love with the process.
The next thing I’m about to mention is also super important, so please take it into account. Now, if we really deconstruct how we set goals, most of us will find ourselves torturing ourselves. With that what I really mean is that our implicit assumption behind any goal is that “when I’ll achieve this goal I’ll be happy” which is so messed up and is actually doing more harm than good to you. This causes us to delay us from being happy till we’ve reached our goal. This possibly could not be helping you or pushing you to achieve a goal. Another thing we subconsciously do in our minds is that we create a do or die situation. For example, if I don’t get a job at company X I’ll be failure. Setting such extreme benchmarks with which we judge ourselves does not help in the slightest. The chances of life going specifically to how we envision it are low, not in a bad way. So, when we put such tight restrictions on what we consider success, we again mentally torture ourselves.
Instead of this, if we have the mentality of just focusing on the process, we’ll always be satisfied and be motivated to take the next step and move towards what we want to achieve.
(James Clear Forget about setting goals. focus on this instead.)
Outro:
So, guys that was it for today’s podcast! I hope you all liked today’s discussion on focusing on developing systems rather than setting goals. I certainly learned a lot, and my goal now is to focus on the essence (system) of my goal rather than the goal itself, because I feel like it will not only help me achieve more goals, but it will also help me stay consistent and retain the goals I’ll achieve.
Please leave your feedback in the comments down below. If you liked this episode, don’t forget to leave a rating and share this episode with your loved ones. Until next time, take care and goodbye!
Show Notes:
Welcome back to another episode of Self-Care and Hustle, I’m your host Neslie Folien and in today’s episode I’ll be discussing the importance of focusing on systems rather than goals. Not only will the tips I will share change your outcome on how we approach the goals we want to achieve but they will also allow you to become more consistent, hardworking and content with your efforts.
So, tune in now, and enjoy!
Works Cited:
James Clear. “Forget about Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.” James Clear, 4 Feb. 2020, https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems.