+1 #102: Systems vs. Goals

In our last +1, we talked about Scott Adams’s wisdom on Wishing vs. Deciding (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/deciding-vs-wishing/).

The key difference? When we DECIDE, we get clear on what we want AND we get clear on the price we’ll need to pay. Then… We get busy paying it.

Scott tells us that one of the ways to reduce the price and make it more palatable is to create systems.

He’s ALL about systems. In fact, he tells us that “Goals are for losers.” (Hah.)

We obviously need goals but he says we should, at the very least, word-glue them together so we have goals-systems or systems-goals.

His point is that if all we’re doing is chasing a goal, we’re constantly going to be “losing” because the goal is always at some far-off spot we may never reach.

On the other hand, when we figure out the SYSTEMS we’re constantly WINNING every single time we successfully execute the system.

For example, if you’re trying to lose 20 pounds, you have a goal. Eating right is a system. Trying to run a 4-hour marathon is a goal. Exercising every day is a system.

As Scott says: “A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.”

Leadership guru John Maxwell has a GREAT way to describe systems as well. He says that systems are good strategies repeated.

So…

What are YOUR goals?

And, more importantly, what are your SYSTEMS that will get you there?

Here’s to Optimizing your systems-driven, perpetual-small-wins-creating machine!!