Man’s existence is defined by his greed. The ever increasing want in life is a driving force for mankind. But then how do some people achieve so much and others are just left to wonder how they accomplished it all. The answer can be found is the mindset. A system where growth mindset drives the person to achieve their goals with a tactical plan, is the winner.
Traditional Goal Setting
Man ventures and conquers. He needs to set certain goals so as to feed the hunger for satisfaction within him. Goals are what you need, the aspirations in your life. Things like a desire to earn $1M in next year, or to travel across the continent. Goals helps us plan our life and organise the future. Man’s appetite has been forever growing, and seems to be unstoppable in the times of insane productivity boom since the last century.
But just setting these goals is not sufficient in order to achieve it. We need to put into place a system which will inherently enable to us to achieve these goals we have set for ourself.
Systems
Our Mind is not capable of tracking multiple things going on in our life. We need to track them on paper or digitally. And we also need to evaluate the progress at specified intervals to take any corrective actions wherever needed. Some systems are basic system like a “to do” list. Some are more complex like using a Bullet Journal. It varies from person to person. Each one of us will be comfortable with their own personalised version of the system. The important part is we need to remove resistance between the system and us. The system has to become a part of our daily life. If it is a to-do list, we have to make utmost effort to look at the list and take actionable items from there. If we are not able to look at that list everyday for whatsoever reason, we need to remove the obstacles which are making it difficult to review the list.
A goal without a plan is just a wish. ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Task vs Goals
Filling your income tax return is a task, not a goal. You need to go it, it is mandatory, but it is not something of an achievement. Goals are something you have not done before, something which is outside your comfort zone or to improve some process you usually follow.
Goals
Goals should be SMART goals. They should have a systematic format to it.
S = Specific
M= Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Relevant
T = Time bound
In the above format, you can access your progress on a weekly basis with proper measure and against the time remaining to achieve it. This way you can easily keep a track on the progress.
Systems
Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. - James Clear, Atomic Habits
A system is a set of habit you need to develop to ensure there is nothing in between you and your goals. Looking at your goals daily and making incremental progress, until the day the goal is achieved and you get the satisfaction of crossing it off in your list is a system.
The system needs to be comfortable so you won’t abandon it. It should have low resistance from your daily activities. It can be a whiteboard in your bedroom, so you can see it daily or a “to do” list /app on your desk or a bullet journal where you track it daily. Choose as per your comfort zone. As far as my personal preference goes, I started with to do lists and then moved to Bullet Journaling method, with which I am very comfortable now.
Be adaptive
New Year is not the only time to set goals. We need to keep on adapting to factors which are out of our control and make necessary adjustments to our goals. It is our responsibility to make sure they remain relevant in current times, with a long term view. It is better to review all goals quarterly, and report the progress and plan for next quarter. On a weekly basis, it would be better to create or modify current plan to make those goals become reality.
If you haven’t set your goals yet, right now is the best time to start setting up your goals. Don’t wait for the next new year.