Goal setting is Overrated.
What you should do instead
Goal setting is probably one of the most popular and most overused pieces of advice in the productivity/life-hack field. The concept of goal setting is so standard that it is now seen as common-sense advice. For a while, this idea was never challenged up until recently. Books like Atomic Habits authored by James Clear have since revolutionized the way people think about goals and setting them. They have made us question why, even though goal setting sounds like sensible advice, it never seems to work. This is evidenced by the rate at which people quit their New year’s resolutions in February.
In many respects, we all secretly know that the act of setting a goal itself does not do much for reaching our goals, yet we seem to still be quite intoxicated by the goals themselves. Anytime we fail at achieving one goal we decide the solution is to set another one because starting afresh feels better than fixing what is broken. With so much focus on goals, we end up obsessively examining the goals themselves, their nature, color, and texture but not the process of achieving the goal itself.
The advice surrounding achieving set goals usually involves vague phrases like ‘work towards your goal’ or ‘manifest your goal’. This is hardly ever emphasized or expanded upon. These follow-up tips rely on the idea that goal setting would act as a driving force to achieving these goals. Hence generic advice like ‘write down your goals’ because it would inspire you to go after your dreams. While this might be true on a small number of occasions, inspiration is not a sustainable incentive to maintain the consistency most goals require.
Setting goals feels good
How many times have you told yourself you wanted to start a new habit; you wrote it down on a piece of paper to properly ‘manifest’ it but never followed through? In my case, a lot of times. Setting a goal is the most feel-good part of the process. It feels so productive, you probably get a rush of dopamine just by telling yourself you would start this new habit. But then, you never go through with it.
It is not because you are bad at setting goals. It is that goal setting does nothing but make you feel nice for the short amount of time that you can convince yourself you are making real long-lasting change.
In defense of goals
The biggest defense for goals is that goal setting itself can motivate us to achieve our goals. Set goals for direction and motivation and you will manifest them. We write them down and paste them on the bedroom wall so we can stare at them every day. You might have had an experience where you wrote your goal down and it occasionally motivated you to follow through.
The problem with this is that it relies heavily on the idea that written down goals are always going to inspire you enough to follow through. However, it does not always work like this. Motivation is not a reliable cue to get you to achieve your goals. Some days you would stare at your goals and scuff at how unrealistic they are. Some days you would laugh at how dumb it was that you thought you would ever follow through. And Some days you would feel unworthy of your own goals. And soon enough you would abandon them altogether. Here is the solution, stop setting goals.
Start Building systems
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems — James Clear
Systems are the processes you put in place to help you consistently make positive changes that lead you to achieve your goal. It is the part where you create a framework that you can consistently follow to create better habits. Systems are the real star of the show. This is the way to get stuff done. The minute you stop obsessing over your end goal and start focusing on building and following systems around small changes you want to make in your life, you would immediately start seeing a difference.
Systems force you to focus on the smaller consistent changes you are making instead of trying milk motivation out of your future end goal. You want to take better care of your skin, build a well-researched skincare routine, and do it every day. You want to exercise regularly, set aside a block of time every day to exercise. You want to eat healthily, set out a system of switching out junk food for healthier options, and stick to it when you go grocery shopping. Every goal requires a system to function.
Why Systems work
The great thing about systems is that you do not have to wait until you achieve your goal before you enjoy the gratification it brings. Systems help you appreciate your smaller milestones and achievements. This gives us a more realistic picture of the journey towards the changes you wish to make in your life. It is not about the eventual glass skin or a healthy body, it is about waking up the next morning and seeing a small difference in the little effort you made the previous day. It makes the entire process more enjoyable and sustainable.
Inspiration based goals vs Action based systems
The importance of systems has never been more relevant to me than recently. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I wrote an article talking about how I needed to be more consistent in writing articles for Medium. However, writing that article and setting that goal was the easiest and most feel-good aspect of the whole thing. The follow-through was a different story. I didn’t realize how much I would start thinking of Medium article ideas every single day. I didn’t expect how difficult it would be to keep to that goal without relying on inspiration to help me write good articles. I didn’t understand the importance of setting up a system to help me achieve this.
The system on keeping to that goal had to involve me sitting on the computer for 1 or 2 hours at the same time everyday writing, editing, and updating articles. That has not been easy and is not inspiration based. You can’t only do things because you feel like it. You’re not always going to feel like it. Systems can survive such obstacles, inspiration can’t.
On the contrary, a time I relied solely on inspiration was creating my second WordPress blog. It was a disaster. My first blog post was about how I was going to be more consistent and that was why I needed a fresh start from my last blog. However, the problem was not the blog it was the system. I had no system. I just had a public blog post clearly stating a goal I set for myself without a system to follow through with it. So, as expected, I never ended up posting on the blog again because I was never inspired.
Systems can survive without clear goals, but Goals cannot survive without a clear system.
In Conclusion,
Inject your energy into building small consistent habits that lead you to make positive change. These small changes matter more than defined goals because ultimately a good system helps you reach further than any goal can specify. Always remember, according to James Clear, you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
