Watch T Cells Hunt Down And Kill Cancer Cells | IFLScience

Watch T Cells Hunt Down And Kill Cancer Cells | IFLScience

Goals vs Systems

Goals vs. Systems

We all have things that we want to achieve in our lives — getting into the better shape, building a successful business, raising a wonderful family, writing a best-selling book, winning a championship, and so on.  And for most of us, the path to those things starts by setting a specific and actionable goal. At least, this is how I approached my life until recently.  I would set goals for classes I took, for weights that I wanted to lift in the gym, and for clients I wanted in my business.  What I’m starting to realize, however, is that when it comes to actually getting things done and making progress in the areas that are important to you, there is a much better way to do things.  It all comes down to the difference between goals and systems.

What’s The Difference Between Goals and Systems?

      If you’re a coach, your goal is to win a championship. Your system is what your team does at practice.  

      If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each

      week.

If you’re a runner, your goal is to run a marathon. Your system is your training schedule for the month 

      If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a million dollar business. Your system is your sales

      and marketing process.

Now for the really interesting question:  If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still get results?For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?     I think you would.

Let’s talk about three more reasons why you should focus on systems instead of goals.

1. Goals reduce your current happiness.

When you’re working toward a goal, you are essentially saying, “I’m not good enough yet, but I will be when I reach my goal.”  The problem with this mindset is that you’re teaching yourself to always put happiness and success off until the next milestone is achieved. “Once I reach my goal, then I’ll be happy. Once I achieve my goal, then I’ll be successful.”

SOLUTION: Commit to a process, not a goal.

Choosing a goal puts a huge burden on your shoulders. Can you imagine if I had made it my goal to write two books this year? Just writing that sentence stresses me out.  But we do this to ourselves all the time. We place unnecessary stress on ourselves to lose weight or to succeed in business or to write a best-selling novel. Instead, you can keep things simple and reduce stress by focusing on the daily process and sticking to your schedule, rather than worrying about the big, life-changing goals.  When you focus on the practice instead of the performance, you can enjoy the present moment and improve at the same time.

2. Goals are strangely at odds with long-term progress.

You might think your goal will keep you motivated over the long-term, but that’s not always true.  Consider someone training for a half-marathon. Many people will work hard for months, but as soon as they finish the race, they stop training. Their goal was to finish the half-marathon and now that they have completed it, that goal is no longer there to motivate them. When all of your hard work is focused on a particular goal, what is left to push you forward after you achieve it?  This can create a type of “yo-yo effect” where people go back and forth from working on a goal to not working on one. This type of cycle makes it difficult to build upon your progress for the long-term.

SOLUTION: Release the need for immediate results.

I was training at the gym last week and I was doing my second-to-last set of clean and jerks. When I hit that rep, I felt a small twinge in my leg. It wasn’t painful or an injury, just a sign of fatigue near the end of my workout. For a minute or two, I thought about doing my final set. Then, I reminded myself that I plan to do this for the rest of my life and decided to call it a day.

In a situation like the one above, a goal-based mentality will tell you to finish the workout and reach your goal. After all, if you set a goal and you don’t reach it, then you feel like a failure.

But with a systems-based mentality, I had no trouble moving on. Systems-based thinking is never about hitting a particular number, it’s about sticking to the process and not missing workouts.

Of course, I know that if I never miss a workout, then I will lift bigger weights in the long-run. And that’s why systems are more valuable than goals. Goals are about the short-term result. Systems are about the long-term process. In the end, process always wins.

3. Goals suggest that you can control things that you have no control over.

You can’t predict the future. (I know, shocking.)  But every time we set a goal, we try to do it. We try to plan out where we will be and when we will make it there. We try to predict how quickly we can make progress, even though we have no idea what circumstances or situations will arise along the way.

SOLUTION: Build feedback loops.

Feedback loops are important for building good systems because they allow you to keep track of many different pieces without feeling the pressure to predict what is going to happen with everything. Forget about predicting the future and build a system that can signal when you need to make adjustments.  A signal that gives you feedback would be the scales if losing weight is important, or keeping a running log of your mileage.

Fall In Love With Systems

None of this is to say that goals are useless. However, I’ve found that goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.  Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win for longevity. Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.

Systems require developing a habit of doing something and plausibly becomes easier to do as a result.

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Mythbuster: DOES THIS CAUSE CANCER?

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Does BPA Increase Cancer Risk?

To reduce exposure, one should avoid plastics that could contain BPA. The problem here is that we do not know exactly how pervasive BPA is. For instance, polycarbonate is often used for industrial filtering, so drinking from a glass bottle does not necessarily mean the liquid is BPA-free.

What we really need is global legislation. Lawmakers in France and Denmark have already implemented a policy to ban BPA from all food packaging. Until such regulations are instituted in more countries worldwide it is good advise for people to talk to their local representatives and to take part in the public debate.

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Do Pesticides Increase Cancer Risk?

There is no clear association between pesticide exposure and cancer risk.  There does not appear to be a benefit of organic produce. It may be more important to wash fruit well and to be careful about specific fruits, known as the 'dirty dozen,' that have higher levels of pesticides.

Verdict: Plausible in people with high exposure levels (farmers and pesticide applicators), but unlikely in consumers with very low levels of exposure.

Can Cell Phones Increase Risk for Brain Cancer?

Until there is further evidence, it may be wise to err on the side of caution. This is not something people should freak out about, but there are simple ways to reduce exposure to cell phones, such as using headsets or landlines. Limiting exposure is especially important, considering that we encounter a range of radiofrequency fields in our daily lives—from our computer, WiFi signal, and commonly used household appliances, such as microwaves.

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