“The ultimate failure is success without fulfillment.”
This is a great quote as we head into the new year. January 1st is the iconic start to a clean
slate and motivating time to start making your list of “goals” for the new year. Shockingly, only
9% of Americans that make resolutions actually complete them. With 23% of people quitting
their new years resolution by the end of the first week and 43% quitting by the end of January.
Which is truly shocking when you think about it.
So what is so hard about sticking to a goal? I mean winners AND losers both have the same
goals..so what separates them? Systems!
System (noun): A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or interconnecting
network
The system used to move toward the goal is the determiner of the outcome. It’s not about what you want to achieve, its about what you are going to do each day to inch yourself closer to achieving it that matters. Fix the inputs, and the outputs will fix themselves.
Goals are mostly a momentary change- you accomplish it and that’s kind of it. It’s also either-or: you either reach your goal or you don’t. This in turn can also create disappointment. On the other hand, systems can be used for anything you want to do in life. We think we need to
change our results (ie when we don’t reach our goal), in reality we need to change the systems to towards driving those results.
If you want to get a pull-up, your system is repeatable vertical pulling exercises, pull up
progressions, proper fueling with restful sleep, and consistency within those measures.
If you want to lift “X” amount of weight on a certain lift, we can focus on increasing the minimum amount of weight we can lift at any given moment. Focus on raising the ground floor, not the ceiling.
This is not to say that goals are completely useless because they are definitely great for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. It’s focusing on things you can do each day, that eventually add up into something bigger and bigger.
Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. So what are
some habits you could do daily that would get you to your goals? Think on it.
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