COFFEE CONVERSATIONS: Systems > Goals for 2017

A few days before the New Year, people have been churning out their goals on Facebook and I sat down with a pen and paper in hand, facing my laptop, with the same goals in my head as two or three years ago, but no urge to write them down. I've had the same goals for the last two years or so, but why do some of them still remain as goals? I thought hard and here's my conclusion and resolution.

How many of you jot down your goals each and every new year? How many have you accomplished? If you're on track, congratulations. Well done. But if not, I'll tell you that out of the 30 goals I wanted to accomplish last year, only 8 have materialized. I work hard. I try to exhaust all possibilities. But what went wrong in there? Here's my assessment:

1. I had too many goals. To be honest, how can one try to materialize a ton of goals in one year without sacrificing health, social life, other life aspects, and sanity? For example. I wanted to have abs last year; that alone takes more than a year to achieve for people who aren't blessed with a revved metabolism as a Mesomorph. To be honest, it is completely possible last year: that would mean living in the gym and letting my business, blog, and social life slip into oblivion; that would've meant unhappiness and bankruptcy.

2. Some of my goals were unrealistic. P16,000,000.00 by the end of 2016? Yeah right. I've learned one of the secrets of the universe: if you don't believe that you can make your goal happen, it won't happen; if you believe it will happen, it will most likely happen. It was the former for me.

3. I didn't have a system.

SYSTEM.

Now let me get into detail into with this one.

A lot of us have goals, but most of the time, we forget the systems. We know our goals, but don't know how to materialize them. We are sure about attaining our goals, but we don't commit to a system to achieve them. This is why most of our goals don't come true. This is why at the end of each year, most of us feel like a failure.

A mentor of mine in theatre would always say: Forget the product; always focus on the process. And it rings true even for life outside theatre.

If an actor is fixated on just performing the role and puts the process of getting into that role aside, the character come show day will appear two- dimensional, flat, monotonous, and ineffective. Theatre characters are based on people and what people are is a sum of their systems; no one becomes cold- hearted and merciless without undergoing through a similar system of experiences, choices, and scenarios.

I've realized, the attainment of goals is highly dependent on the system that you make each day. Your goal won't come to you; it's planted in a set destination and you must be the one to journey to it; your personal system will be your vehicle to that goal. 

Given this, what do you do day in and day out to achieve your goals? What are you doing each day to get you closer to your dreams?

You want to lose weight? Are you committed to working out three times a week?

You want to better the life of your children? Are you committed to looking for at least three additional income- generating opportunities each week or a bigger, long- term source of income?

You want to expand your network? Are you committed to meeting at least 3 new people each week?

You want to save up for a house? Are you setting aside at least 2 or 5% of your income every month?

You want to improve your negative approach to life? Are you committed to thinking about at least one happy thought per day?

The more you commit to a system, the more you get closer to your dreams. You'll be surprised that one day, it's right in front of you already.

Going back to that moment wherein I'm facing my laptop and holding a piece of pen and paper, instead of churning out goals, I just chose 5 of the most important goals I had for the last two or so years and decided to write extensive strategies to achieve them creating a system that I decided to focus on for the year to get me closer to my dreams. So help me God.

What system are you creating today to achieve your dreams?