In last week’s post, ‘What Kind of Seeds Are You Planting?’, I talked about the new changes that I’m incorporating in my life daily are helping me to get things done that I haven’t had time for. A big part of the change has been waking up really early and knocking out some really important things before the workday starts. This week, I’d like to elaborate on that conversation by providing a few insights into a book I’ve reading by James Clear, called Atomic Habits.

“If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves not because you don’t want to change but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. What we fail to realize is that when we repeat the 1% errors day after day, replicating the same poor decisions, rationalizing mistakes, and so forth – this leads to toxic results. Success is a product of daily habits not once-in-a-lifetime transformation” (foreword).

The Valley of Disappointment

Change does not happen over-night, but we live in a culture that wants everything to happen instantaneously. When we start a new habit like working out, we get discouraged after week 1 if we haven’t lost a single pound. We then revert back to our old habits of not working out because we think it’s not making any difference.

I was probably the weakest I’ve ever been during pregnancy. I could barely walk from my hospital room to the kitchen, which was less than 100 feet, without worrying the nurses because my heart rate would be too high. When I started going back to the gym again, I couldn’t do the basic workouts that I had been able to do so easily in the past. It was very frustrating for me. It took many months to build my strength back. I had to be patient with my body post-surgery. Two years later, I can say that I’m the strongest I’ve ever been. “Breakthrough moments are the result of many previous actions that build up the potential to unleash major change.”

“When nothing seems to happen, I go and look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it – but all that had gone before” (pg. 21). Once we get past the valley of disappointment, that’s when we get to see the results of our efforts.

What’s the difference between goals and systems?

Society has told us over and over again that the only way to achieve anything in life is to set specific, actionable goals. However, while this may be true, the results have very little to do with the goals we set but everything to do with the systems we follow. “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems” (pg. 24).

James Clear mentions a few problems with goals:

• Winners and losers have the same goals – the only difference is the system that was implemented to achieve them.

• Achieving a goal is only a momentary change – in order to improve for good, you need to solve the problems at the systems level. Fix the input the outputs will fix themselves.

• Goals restrict your happiness because you are continuously putting your happiness off until the next milestone. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy.

• Goals are at odd with long term progress – after you achieve the goal, what do you have left you keep pushing you forward? Goals are set to win the game but building systems is meant to continue to play the game (pg. 24-26).

In conclusion, remember that “habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement. At first, these tiny routines seem insignificant, but soon they build on each other and fuel bigger wins that multiply to a degree that far outweighs the cost of their initial investment” (pg. 27).

OUTFIT DEETS: Top - Zara// Shoes - Zara// Pants - H&M

See you back here tomorrow for my #TravelTuesdays where I’ll be sharing my Cancun Travel Diary Part 2 :-).