I am currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. The concept of Systems vs. Goals caught my eye and I wanted to share my view on it.
For many years I believed, the best way to achieve anything I want in life is to set specific, actionable, and achievable goals. I used to set goals for everything I want in life. I set goals for the weights I need to lift in the gym, for the grades, I want in school among many others. I succeeded at a few, but I failed at most of them.
Yes, Goals are important but eventually, I realized that the results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the system I followed to achieve them.
How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.
― Yvon Chouinard
Difference between Goals and Systems
Systems are almost the opposite of goals, in that they’re entirely about creating a repeatable set of actions instead of considering the overarching goal that they’re working towards.
Losing 15 pounds is a goal, whereas eating the right food and working out daily is a system.
But are goals completely useless? Absolutely not. Goals are good for setting a direction for us…
