Do you have a financial goal you’re working towards?
Goals are important. They give you direction and focus. They give you something to work towards.
But I’ve got some beef to pick with goals…
Most of the time they leave you feeling:
- Like a failure until you’ve hit your goal
- Like sh*t if you don’t reach your goal
- Lost & empty once you’ve achieved your goal
Have you experienced this cycle of never feeling good enough?
I know I have.
I had this goal to earn $20,000 in a month from my business. I wrote this goal down in my diary everyday for 15+ months.
Then in June 2023 I finally hit it!
I felt a monetary sense of satisfaction. We went out to dinner to celebrate the milestone (I’ve got the photo sitting in front of me on my desk).
But the enjoyment faded.
I felt lost and empty.
I’d lost my purpose…
Goals are for LOSERS
Don’t shoot the messenger!
Blame Scott Adams.
In his underrated book ‘How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big’ he shares this:
“If your goal is to lose ten pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal – if you reach it at all – feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-orientated people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary. That feeling wears on you. In time, it becomes heavy and uncomfortable. It might even drive you out the game.”
“If you achieve your goal, you celebrate and feel terrific, but only until you realise you just lost the thing that gave you purpose and direction. Your options are to feel empty and useless, perhaps enjoying the spoils of your success until they bore you, or set new goals and reenter the cycle of permanent presuccess failure.”
The problem with goals is they’re OUTCOME focused.
You only feel like a success once you’ve hit your goal.
And then you feel like sh*t. Because you no longer have something to get you out of bed in the morning…
Do This Instead
Become obsessed about SYSTEMS.
Systems are INPUT focused. Meaning they focus on processes. Actions that lead to results.
“For our purposes, let’s say a goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don’t sometime in the future. 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.”
A system is a repeated action you choose to take until it becomes a habit.
- Brushing your teeth twice a day is a system for pearly white teeth
- Going to the gym 5 times a week is a system for increasing strength
- Investing 10%+ of your income is a system for building wealth
How do you know what systems to build?
You need to think about the outcome you want to achieve (so goals aren’t completely useless after all…)
For example,
I have ambitions to:
- Write a best-selling book
- Become a world-class speaker
- Have 6-pack abs all year round
These are all outcome focused goals.
These determine the behaviours (systems) I need to build.
I ask myself,
“What behaviours will result in me living the life I want and becoming the person I want to be?”
- Writing a newsletter each week is my system to become a better writer
- Attending Toastmasters each week is my system to become a better speaker
- Fasting once per week is my system to stay lean all year round
Every time I complete these behaviours, I win.
“Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems.”
