Systems are for winners.
Goals are for losers.
Or, as James Clear says it:
Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.
Yesterday I shared a post about starting a writing experiment with ‘the goal’ of gaining 20k new followers in one year.
That GOAL is just there to create a direction.
It could have been 500, 10k or 100k.
The amount is not important.
What IS important, is the SYSTEM behind it: creating value content on a regular basis – large text every 2 weeks, smaller posts every day – which will grow an audience (social media & newsletter) who will be offered valuable paid content.
Value creation and value creation.
Discipline is your daddy
In order for the system to work, you need to commit to the process – aka. DISCIPLINE.
Repetition is the mother of all skill. (system)
And discipline is the daddy. (commitment)
My personal reference for this is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Outsiders only see the color of the belt.
They think the goal is reaching black belt level.
Insiders know that it it is all about the small, daily progressive steps that you make when nobody is there to notice it.
To grow the discipline needed to push yourself through the hard, boring times in order to get better.
The difficult thing is that most other people only see the results, not the process.
(One of my biggest frustrations in how people see design: as the result and not the problem-solving process. But that’s a topic for another time.)
Become better
Here is my secret to building good systems: don’t do things to impress those others with the results.
Do it to become better yourself and helping others to become better too.
In a structured way.
(Thinking in systems or processes to becoming better is one of the cornerstones of my evolving ebook “Power Up with Purpose”.)
Build the discipline to have your system work, even when nobody notices.
That is what seperates winners from losers.
Because hard work beats talent, when talent refuses to work hard.
Are you working hard on a system? Would love to hear about it!
