What I read: “Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.” by James Clear.
Normally, when I write about a topic I’ve written about many times before, I provide links to my previous writings. I’m not going to bore you with that here. I’m going to keep this post short and concise because it’s not going to take a lot of page real estate.
I've experimented with so many goal strategies and hacks over the years since childhood. The conventional wisdom on which I was raised and acculturated was:
Set a big goal.
Break it down into long-range, mid-range, and short-term objectives and associated tasks.
If you stick to this, you'll achieve the goal.
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes not. Honestly, often it did not.
In my experience, more often the goals I achieved were despite rigid goal strategies like I described rather than because of them. Increasingly I’m seeing other people write and talk about how those types of goal strategies don’t work for them either.
In corporate life, as a manager, I was told to set SMART goals for my team members. I contend those don’t work well either, but I’ll expound on that further another time.
James Clear’s article is an excerpt from his bestselling book, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (paid link).
Clear draws a distinction between goals and systems. Goals are the objectives you’re aiming for, and systems are the habits that will best help you achieve them. Notice I didn’t say tasks. Systems aren’t tasks. Systems are the practices and habits you put into place that if done consistently get you to where you want to go.
If you’re a musician, your goal might be to play a new piece. Your system is how often you practice, how you break down and tackle difficult measures, and your method for receiving feedback from your instructor.
One of the things that’s starkly different from Clear’s perspective and so many of the goal attainment experts is that he believes that if you focus on systems and ignore the goals, you’re still likely to arrive at your goal anyway without focusing on it. I agree. Most of the great stuff that’s transpired in my life was not the direct result of a series of tasks heading toward a goal. That’s not how life usually works.
Eventually, I began to realize that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed.
I don’t use the word goals anymore in my life. Instead, as Clear suggests, I think of them as directions. I’ve also used the word targets in the past, but even that felt too specific and rigid. Directions move you toward something while allowing natural and organic deviations from the path which could place you in a better place than the original goal.
Clear points out four insights to drive home his point.
Winners and losers have the same goals.
Achieving a goal is only a momentary change.
Goals restrict your happiness.
Goals are at odds with long-term progress.
I’ll let you read the article for elaborations on those points. His book is also excellent. I don’t recommend too many “productivity” books these days, but his book is one I’d recommend.
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