A podcast the other day mentioned a James Clear quote from his book Atomic Habits.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fail to the level of your systems.”
James Clear
This got me thinking about all the systems we use each day to get our work done. Many of the systems are ones we have been using for years. Examples like processing our email, creating a spreadsheet, or working on a presentation in Powerpoint or Keynote.
We typically don’t take the time to learn more about these systems or consider other systems because we are comfortable with the current way we work. What if we did dive in and think about this? Would we find better ways of working?
Maybe we could save time.
Create better output.
Discover features to do things we didn’t know were possible.
Today, when I looked up the quote, I found that the statement is longer. Here it is again with the second section.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fail to the level of your systems. Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there.”
James Clear
This makes so much sense!
The systems are the daily habits.
We always talk about using habits to achieve our goals.
I like that this quote challenges us to rethink these habits from time to time to ensure there isn’t a better way to do things.
My Story
The last several months I have been creating a lot of systems and processes surrounding this blog.
There has been a lot of learning along the way and figuring out which processes are most efficient. I was familiar with some of the programs, but not with others.
As a result of this post, I am putting some time on my calendar for a few months from now to think about the system and ask questions about what is working, what isn’t, and how I could make them better.
Your Turn
What system in your daily habits have you not reconsidered recently?
Could you take a class or read some articles on a program to get new ideas and techniques?
What goals do you hope to achieve with adjustments – efficiency, creativity, etc.?