What’s the difference between systems and goals? Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. In the words of three-time Super Bowl winner Bill Walsh, “The score takes care of itself.” The same is true for other areas of life. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are for making progress. Every Olympian wants to win a gold medal. Every candidate wants to get the job. And if successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winner from the loser. The goal was always there. It was only when one implemented a system of continuous small improvements that he obtained a different outcome.
Do you want to stand out from the rest in this world?
What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results. When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the input and the output will fix itself.
When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy.
The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any particular achievement. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
Source: Atomic Habits by James Clear
