Goal 🥅 vs System💪. The Common Mistake ‼️

 What is the common mistake? 

The inability to maintain patience in various situations is a common challenge many individuals face. In today’s fast-paced world, where instant gratification often takes precedence, the concept of patience seems to be dwindling. When embarking on new habits, most people quit these new habits as they fail to wait for Breakthrough moments. 

What are Breakthrough moments? 

• Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential to unleash a major change.

• For example, Imagine an ice cube sitting in front of us in a room that is 25 Degrees. Ever so slowly, the room heats up 

26 Degrees …

27 Degrees …

28 Degrees …

29 Degrees …

30 Degrees …

31 Degrees …

Still, nothing has happened. Then suddenly, at 32 Degrees, the ice begins to melt. A  1 Degree shift seemingly no different from the temperature increase before it, has unlocked a huge change. 

• Similarly, bamboo can barely be seen for the first 5 years as it builds an extensive root system underground before exploding 90 feet into the air within the next 6 weeks. 

Lesson to be learned & Mistake to be Avoided 

• Habits often make no difference until you cross the critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance. We need to learn to be patient and learn how to wait for the breakthrough moment. Stop doubting your progress and just trust the process. 

• When you finally break through the plateau of latent potential, people will call it an overnight success. The outside world only sees the most dramatic event than all the sleepless nights that preceded it.

Goals vs System 

The prevailing wisdom - the best way to achieve what we want in life is to set specific, actionable goals.

Issue

• While following such a method, we often succeeded at a few but failed at a lot of them. I began to realize that the results have very little to do with goals and everything has to do with the systems. 

Goals - goals are about the results you want to achieve 

System - The system is the processes that lead to those results 

If you’re a coach-player your goal is to win a championship and your system is 

• The way you recruit players 

• Manage your assistant coaches 

• Conduct practice

The real idea is that you should not always be checking on the scoreboard, to see if you are winning the championship. Soon, it becomes a ridiculously impossible task. 

The only way to win is to get better each day and eventually “ the score takes care of itself” 

• Goals are good for setting a direction

• But systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals & not enough time designing your systems. 

Problems With Goals 

1. Winners & Losers have the same goal 

• We concentrate on the people who end up winning & on the successful side & mistakenly assume that it's their ambitious goals that led to their success while overlooking all of the people who had the same objective but didn’t succeed. 

• Every Olympian wants a gold medal. It only depends on who implements the system of continuous small improvements. 

2. Achieving a goal is only a momentary change 

• Situation 

• You have a messy room & you set a goal to clean it. If you have the energy to tidy up, you will have a clean room. 

BUT 

If you maintain your sloppy habits, then you will be looking at a new pile of clutter and hoping for another burst of motivation 

• The real problem

• You are left chasing the same outcomes, achieving a goal is only a momentary change and it does not address the root cause. It’s like treating a symptom without addressing the root cause/ disease. It is a loop.

1. Goals inhibit long-term progress

• A goal-oriented mind creates a “yo-yo” effect. Many runners work hard for months, but as soon as they cross the finish line. They stop training & eventually return to where they started.

• The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. 

Overall comment

• Focus on the overall system, rather than a single goal

• If you are planning to get in shape. 

Don’t set goals like 

• “I want to lose 5 kg in 2 months”

• “I will reduce my body fat % to 18%”

        

   Instead, work on the system 

• How are you going to lose weight?

• How much weight training & how much cardio per week?

• What diet are you going to follow?

Soon, “ The score will take care of itself”