Day 10: GOALS ARE FOR LOSERS
Hold on now…wait just one second…this doesn’t make any sense… I thought the whole point….. As the great Rowdy Roddy Piper said, “Just when they think they have the answers, I change the questions.”
So what’s the deal with that title, “GOALS ARE FOR LOSERS?” Haven’t you spent the last 10 days reading about my goals with my 30 Days and the things that I hope to accomplish with this project? Well, it’s not exactly goals per se that are for losers, but it’s the way that we think about them.
For a few thoughts on this, I’m going to turn to an unexpected source: a cartoonist, Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, and his book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.
Before you turn off thinking, “What can I possibly learn from someone who draws pictures for the funny pages?!” You might ask the same questions about “experts” in a world where there are what seems like hundreds on each and every topic saying hundreds of contradictory things. As my man, JT, says in reference to popular self-improvement books, “I don’t like to read the books that are on everyone’s shelves, if they were so good, why haven’t they made big changes in people’s lives.” This isn’t to dismiss all “experts,” (though it’s tempting) but instead to repeat that age-old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Anyway, here’s what Adams has to say about goals:
To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. That’s literally true most of the time. For example, 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-oriented 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 of the game.
If you achieve your goal, you celebrate and feel terrific, but only until you realize that 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.
I don’t know about you, but this really struck a chord with me when I thought about how many New Year’s resolution have fallen by the wayside in my life, and the corresponding guilt that I felt from my failures. Maybe you agree and you’re thinking that the cartoonist has a point, but is he suggesting that we just give up and float down the lazy river of life?
Not at all.
Instead, Adams suggests that we use systems instead of goals.
Systems versus Goals. Now it might seem there’s a little bit of wordplay going on here, because after all, doesn’t every system have a goal? And doesn’t everyone chasing a goal have a system they use to get there?
Undoubtedly.
Adams is merely suggesting that thinking of the two as separate and distinct concepts is powerful:
Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous presuccess failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do. The goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at each turn. The systems people are feeling good every time they apply their system. That’s a big difference in terms of maintaining your personal energy in the right direction.
How then does Adams define systems vs. goals?
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.
What are some examples of systems vs. goals in everyday life?
…[L]osing twenty pounds is a goal, but eating right is a system. In the exercise realm, running a marathon in under four hours is a goal, but exercising daily is a system. In business, making a million dollars is a goal, but being a serial entrepreneur is a system.
Adams challenges the reader to study people who succeed, and he believes that most of them follow systems rather than goals.
But then, again, he’s a cartoonist, so what does he know?
In the same sense, I’m just a regular joe, not an expert on anything, and you’re still reading my story after ten days. Maybe it’s the substance rather than the source that’s important. Or maybe you’re just a huge fan of my gif game, who knows…
Bringing this full circle, my 30 Days isn’t about achieving “SMART goals” (SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RESULTS-FOCUSED, TIME-BOUND), instead it’s about incorporating a system into my life to achieve a new, improved, yet, unquantifiable level of discipline and becoming a better man. Those “goals” flow from the system.
From my experience, Adams is right about systems vs. goals. It’s much easier and much more encouraging to focus on doing specific things each day rather than looking to the end result and constantly finding myself coming up short. By sticking with my 30 Days system and concentrating on those specific habits rather than outsized goals, each day I’m building off the victories of the days before and finding success every day.
Kind of like…
Stay frosty.
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Quote of the Day
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
~Psalm 90:12
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Links to Past Episodes/Resources:
Introduction Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9
Manfield’s Book of Manly Men: An Utterly Invigorating Guide to Being Your Most Masculine Self
If you have any feedback, please send me a message or leave it on my Facebook page: Thirty Days. This is a new project and I’d love to hear your thoughts. It is a tremendous encouragement to know that someone is reading this. Encouragement, comments AND criticism are welcome.
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