We all want to get ahead in life and perform to our maximum best, yet the majority of us fail miserably to achieve their goals. We read self improvement books & articles, trying to understand what are we doing wrong. Why are we failing to achieve our goals. We get really good general wisdom and lessons from these books, but none is a practical guide on how to achieve our goals.
Goals!!! Maybe you're looking at it from the wrong angle
Yes, it's not setting goals that will help you succeed in life it's building systems. That revelation came to me just a couple of weeks earlier while I was reading this book "How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Make It Big", one chapter of the book was talking about goals vs. systems, Which is something I didn't find in any of the articles or books I've read earlier, and is what I think was a critical factor in the major change I had in my life. And what follows in this article is based on personal experience & views, and I don't know if there is any science or research that can back this view.
Building systems is good, Why?
My take on building systems, is that it's the easiest way to get ahead in life on your own pace and still feel good about yourself. When building a system you are always tweaking and monitoring how all factors & variables in life contribute to the final result you have in mind. It trains you to always have the end result in mind, and not get lost in the details, yet be flexible enough to change your behavior in a glimpse of an eye if it's not working.
The good thing about building systems (in my opinion) is it's flexibility and realism. Maintaining a system (routine) creates a good secure feeling. Systems that you build for how you spend your days gain performance momentum with time and become easier to maintain.
Short term goals are bad, Why?
If you are a stubborn persistent person, who likes to get things done, setting short term goals would be the perfect masochist way to torture yourself and ruin your enjoyment of the present, the here and now. You are always looking ahead to get to your goal, and you see everything in your life as an obstacle keeping you from getting to your goal, you have already set the goal and it's too late now to change it. and from there it gets worse, you only have two options, option 1 is you achieve your goal and then feel empty, or maybe rejoice for a day or two before you set your next goal and start the cycle of torture all over again. Option 2 is no better, you fail and start feeling as a loser, the emotional impact of not achieving a goal can be devastating for many.
The bad thing about goals (in my opinion) is it's finality, it's rigidness and the worst part is that it is a foolish prediction of what you will be able to do in the future no matter what variables come in to play.
In Conclusion
Goals (in my opinion) can never be short term, "Ending world Hunger", "Eradicating Disease", or "Spreading Education" can all be great life long goals. Losing weight, increasing your income, improving your relationship with others at work or home can never ever be goals. To get ahead in life you don't need to set goals, you need to build systems.
Have comments, suggestions or disagreements, please do not hesitate to leave them in the comments box below.
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