Goals are good for setting a direction. [[Systems]] are for making progress. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your [[systems]]. Build systems to take the right actions effortlessly. It's the perspective of looking at your life, noticing the parts that are inefficient, or require willpower, or just never get done. There are some underlying points to always bear in mind with systems:
- Minimize decision points. The main thing that consumes willpower isn't the process of doing a task, it's deciding to do the task in the first place. The goal is to get stuff done, not to decide to get stuff done.
- Shape the default. The ideal situation is for doing the right action to feel like the default.
- You don't hit a quantitative goal by focusing on the goal. You hit a quantitative goal by focusing on the process.
- Beware trivial inconveniences. Think of decisions in terms of activation energy. Some decisions need more energy than others depending on how are setup. Make the good decision effortless. Remove friction from the path to your goals.
- A better wording for goals is "quests". A quest is an adventure, and you expect it to be one that changes you (gives a reward), not just your situation.
Turn vague goals into trigger-action plans (TAPs). If X then Y. That works because they help us notice situations where we could carry out our intentions. They force us to turn vague and ambiguous goals into more specific ones. A good TAP fulfills three requirements:
- The trigger is clear. The when part is a specific, visible thing that's easy to notice.
- The trigger is consistent. The action is something that you'll always want to do when the trigger is fulfilled.
- The TAP furthers your goals.
- Experiment with something you want to improve (A/B tests).
- Reduce daily decisions.
- [[Journaling|Journal]].
- Delete one bad habit (e.g: no sugar).