I was never one for setting goals, even though I was encouraged to do so in building our travel business. Our travel business turned out just fine, thank you, without goal setting. I found a book that resonated with this strategy. “If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead,” writes James Clear in his book Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. I like that.
“The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become,” Clear writes. He goes on to lay out a detailed approach to establishing good habits and stopping the bad habits. “All habits serve you in some way—even the bad ones—which is why you repeat them.”
I liked his admonition to take action, to try new behaviors, and not just think about it. “It is easy to get bogged down trying to find the optimal plan for change: the fastest way to lose weight, the best program to build muscle, the perfect idea for a side hustle,” he writes. “We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action. As Voltaire once wrote, ‘The best is the enemy of the good.'”
I also liked his emphasis on taking small steps to establish a new habit. “When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon,” he says. “The most effective way I know to counteract this tendency is to use the Two-Minute Rule, which states, ‘When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.'”
And finally I liked his suggestion to incorporate new habits that fit with who you are as a person. “One of the best ways to ensure your habits remain satisfying over the long-run is to pick behaviors that align with your personality and skills,” Clear writes. “Work hard on the things that come easy.”
If you want a different approach to making positive changes in your life other than goal setting, I recommend reading Atomic Habits.
