We’re told that success comes from setting big goals. But here’s the hard truth: You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems. Today, we’re fixing the machine that actually runs your life.
Up to now, we’ve defined what we want and what actions to take. But an action plan without a system is still just a wish. Today is about the systems that make actions happen.
If you missed the earlier posts, you can find them here:
Keeping Goals: How to Set & Achieve What Matters Most
Start From the Finish Line – Reverse Engineer Your Future
I created a companion video that you can watch on YouTube:
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What are Systems?
Systems are simply how you do things — your habits, routines, defaults and mindsets. Most of them were built unconsciously, and that’s why they’re powerful. We are using these invisible systems to do everything we do each and every day.
Our systems produce the outcomes in our life.
When a system is good, making progress feels natural. But if a system is weak, making progress feels like a battle.
Why aren’t our exhaustive list of to-do’s or tasks enough? Completing a task may achieve an outcome once, but only a strong system will produce lasting and repeatable outcomes.
Here’s a clear example:
I have a goal that my house isn’t cluttered anymore. I’m making my plan for the week. The next area to tackle is the table in the entryway that ends up with a vast array of clutter and feels like an eyesore when anyone comes over. So I write that on my task list:
- Declutter entry table.
And I tackle that task from my list and I’ve done it, the table in the entryway is neat and clean just the way I want it to stay. Task done!
But time goes by and what’s going to inevitably happen? After all, I didn’t look at the systems in place to understand how it gets cluttered, let alone make any changes to prevent the cluttering from continuing. So eventually the clutter is back. FAIL!
Tasks have their place, but we must engage our systems and make the needed changes in order to change our outcomes and sustain our progress.
How Do We Visualize Our Systems?
In order to improve our systems, we need to examine them and figure out exactly what we need to change. If we attempt to document all our systems at once, we might start by putting ourselves in the center. Then we would identify the different areas our systems support. From there we would need to begin identifying all our habits and routines – even the ones we aren’t consciously aware of – and add those. Some of those would support multiple areas. And then there’s all the interactions.
But we are not going to do that.
We don’t need to examine all our systems, just the ones that need to be improved.
You need to understand the systems that support the goals you’re working toward – and the ones that are holding you back. These are the ones you will need to really work through and improve.
These are the most common ways systems are mapped (each are linked to an image of an example):
These tools are helpful if we need a bit of reinforcement to stay consistent with a system or have added new habits. They are also helpful when more than one person uses the system with you to produce a shared outcome – i.e. partners, children, roommates, employees, etc.
If a system feels hard, write it down. If it keeps failing, you need to find the root cause. Keep asking ‘why’ until you dig down and find where the problem starts. In some cases, there are more than one root cause. For example, clutter may be ending up on the entry way table in more than one way.
Putting It Into Action
I’m going to use Example 3 from the reverse engineering exercise in the last post. The outcome was becoming a first time home owner starting from very little savings and a minimal financial system in place.
I am going to use my Goal Worksheet (free download – US Letter & HP Classic) and show you how I would create and commit to my plan for reaching the 1 year milestones.
I fill out the first page using my Future Self vision (from the first post) and the reverse engineering of the Example 3 outcome down to 1 year milestones.
On the second page, I identify any “possible obstacles and ways to overcome them”. By acknowledging what feels uncertain, difficult, or outside our control, we’re better able to stay the course – even if we later need to adjust the plan.
The reverse engineering provides 12 “doable actions”, but each of the doable actions is usually more than one single action or step when we break them down to execute them.
Let’s go through the first one on the list – Track all expenses.
With the assumption that there isn’t much of a financial system in place, adding this capability to the system is an obvious step. But since there’s also no existing means for recording expenses – no ledger, spreadsheet or app – experience tells me, I need a task to get that established first. Then I can add it’s regular use to the system.
Once that task is complete I can complete the next step and set up the system change.
As I stated earlier, systems are made up off all our habits, routines, defaults, and mindsets. So habits are building blocks of systems. This is a pretty significant piece of what the financial system will become as I work to achieve all the milestones for this goal. I won’t be able to establish a budget or determine opportunities to cut costs without successfully tracking my expenses. So I’m going to make this action a habit action which will trigger my process for monitoring habits and making sure they are sustainable.
From here, I’ll continue documenting the actions identified from the reverse engineering exercise for this goal and then repeat the entire process for any other goals I’ve set. The Goal Worksheet includes 4 pages – page 3 provides more space for actions and page 4 is for capturing any notes, lessons learned, or adjustments that needed to be made along the way.
Committing to New Habits
Good, strong systems are essential for achieving our goals and sustaining the outcome. And since good habits are key building blocks for strong systems, we need to define them carefully and commit to their implementation.
I follow the method described by James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. (And I’ve written about this in detail before – see this post: Daily Routines and Habits for Successful Functional Planning.)
To summarize the method – when you build a habit, make it:
- Obvious (visible cues, planner prompts, environment design)
- Attractive (pair it with something enjoyable)
- Easy (reduce friction, simplify steps)
- Satisfying (track it, celebrate it, reward it)
I created a Habit Plan worksheet that follows this method. I use it to commit to my new habit. (US Letter, HP Classic) Here’s how I filled it out for the new habit of “tracking expenses” and my thoughts as I completed each section:
- When I state what my habit will be I make it obvious by indicating exactly what, when and where it is to happen.
- Reminding yourself why your success is important can be a good motivator, especially for the things that are new and challenging.
- I have a Daily Review that I do at the end of each day with my planner in hand. So I can add a cue to my Daily Review Checklist and that automatically pairs it with that established routine.
- Having quick references for coding information – such as categories – can make recording them easier. Also doing this daily rather than weekly means doing it more times, but the total time spent will be less, as I won’t be racking my brain trying to remember what I bought 4 days ago.
- I thought about ways to make the activity enjoyable – like color coding the categories, but I’m thinking charts showing an improvement to my financial situation to be the most enjoyable.
- Again – acknowledging that there may be some bumps in the road and capturing ideas for smoothing them out, is always a plus. Always allow yourself to learn and adapt your plan accordingly.
When it comes to dates, don’t start all your new habits at once. Stagger them out so you aren’t overwhelmed by lots of changes at once. This is particularly true, I feel, if the changes can have overlapping “side effects”. Changing multiple diet and/or activity levels at the same time could have you wonder where and concerns may be originating from.
I usually do use a tracker on my weekly spread for ease of access. But I do revisit my goal and habit pages during my weekly planning. I like to record my streak data here as well. This allows me to see that information along side any notes I make along the way.
And this is important, not only for new habits. Check in with yourself periodically. Ask yourself:
- what is working?
- what isn’t working?
- what do I need/want to do more of?
- what do I need/want to do less of?
Record your observations here and then act on your answers.
Summary
Your systems are the engine behind your goals. When you strengthen the systems that support your future self, you make progress feel lighter and more natural.
Don’t forget to check out the free planner pages for creating an action plan for each of your goals and establishing good habits. There’s also some blank checklist forms, too. All are in both full US letter and Happy Planner Classic sized pages. Find them here.
If you have questions about your own systems—or ideas or topics you’d like me to cover next—leave them in the comments. I read them, and they help shape what I write about next
Until next time, keep planning in a way that fits your life.
Linda
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