System > Goals

Goals! “You must set goals in life”, productivity gurus have been shouting from the roof.

I think goals don’t work for me. Because of the timeline pressure associated with it. It makes it hard for me to give my best.

Another thought that scares me is what will I do after I have achieved my goal. The most obvious answer usually is set another (more ambitious) goal. It is a never ending cycle of constant pressure, void and disappointment.

I’m not saying goals don’t work. Or you shouldn’t set goals for yourself. You definitely should. And they work best if you understand how to set them.

When I set goals, I consider them as milestones I want to achieve, they work best for me.

On top of the milestone, I believe in making a system. Let me explain, what do I mean by making a system.

A system is something where you take on an atomic activity and do it every day. For example, reading one page every day, writing one paragraph every day, and so on.

And systems are infinite in nature and they produce compounding results in the long run. It might feel in the moment that no visible improvement is happening but it’s only after following the system for a sufficiently long amount of time one can feel its effect.