Systems Not Goals
About once a year I review James Clear’s book Atomic Habits in order to shake off the dust of my default behaviors and reflect on how I might make more progress in the things that are meaningful to me. One key idea from the book is the focusing on your systems vs your goals. Systems are consistent behaviors in certain environments, whereas goals are simply outcomes we are hoping for - make more money, run a marathon, eat more veggies, etc. Systems are about the When and Where of a particular behavior. Helpful and unhelpful habit systems have a clear when and where. We can use this to our advantage to increase helpful habits and decrease unhelpful ones.
Clear suggests that we make way more progress by focusing on our systems rather than obsessing about our goals. That is because your systems you can control in the here and now, but your goals are out there in the future somewhere and are just a product of your systems over time. We will unpack this a little more in next week’s email. But for now, a quote I like from the book is:
“We do not rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.” - James Clear
It’s tiny, consistent habits that make our lives - for better or worse. Therefore it is reasonable for us to stop from time to time and consider our default systems of behavior and if they are working for us. What I encourage you to do is to do a Habit Systems Audit of your life. I want you to consider the systems that are helping and those that are unhelpful. Remember habit systems that work, have a clear when and where. For example here is a brief audit from my own life:
Helpful Systems:
Daily exercise (5:30am, local gym)
Daily reflect on vision and values (listen to audio clip during warmup at the gym)
Mon-Fri get kids ready for school (home from gym by 7am, wake up kids, and start packing their lunches)
Mon-Fri plan my day (as soon as kids leave, dining room table, using Full Focus Planner)
Mon-Fri going to sleep (in bed, reading a book, by 9:30pm)
Things I want to improve:
When and where I review my budget
When and where I take vitamins
When and where I drink more water
When and where I make time for writing
When and where I make time for checking on friends and family
When and where I make space for journaling and meditation
If there are habits that you’d like to improve, it’s likely that you haven’t formed a workable system to automate those behaviors. A good place to start is to pick when and where you will start with a very small habit. So for me, let’s pick drinking more water. Until recently, I have had no plan for drinking more water. But what I am going to do is start placing a water bottle in various places so that it is more obvious and available. I’m not trying to get a certain number of ounces per day (that’s a goal), I’m trying to change my system - making drinking water more available, obvious, and repeatable without having to overthink it. So, here’s my plan
Keep glass of water out in the kitchen (take a drink any time I feel the desire to eat a snack)
Keep bottle in my car (take a swig when I get in and get out)
Keep a water bottle in my office (fill in between clients, and keep next to me during sessions)
This all might feel like too much to keep track of, but this is the whole point of setting up a workable habit system - you’re making it so that you don’t have to think about it as much. Once my options for drinking water are in place - I’m not thinking about it anymore - I’m just living my life, but now with a much greater chance of drinking water during the day.
Take some time this week to think about what habits are working for you and which habits you’d like to improve. Notice how the habits that are working for you likely have a clear when and where. If you clarify the when and where of your new habits, you’re going to have much more success. Start small and give it a go!
Always in your corner,
Tom Page, LCPC
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