It’s a new year and time for a fresh start.
Does this look familiar?
We take out our journals or our 2021 planner and start writing a list of resolutions. We probably have a healthy skepticism, but at least we have good intentions. In truth, many of this year’s resolutions look exactly like last year’s.
New Year's resolutions are just a more festive way of saying, “Here are our personal goals for the year!” We resolve to accomplish something -- which implies we will do something different from what we have done before.
But really, our actions might look just slightly different year after year.
Ready for a radical suggestion?
For 2021, have only one resolution: Resolve to design a system for your life and live it.
It can be transformational.
Sounds simple, right? Almost too simple. Where are the numbers? How will we measure progress? What’s the action plan?
A system is defined by what it does. Our systems define how we choose to live our lives. Our systems are largely responsible for our successes or failures.
Here’s the key to ensuring those successes happen: think systems first, goals second.
When our systems are stable, we set the stage to reintroduce goals in a meaningful way.
For 2021 think about your system for living. What sub-systems are important to you? Is it health and wellness, career advancement, financial security, relationships, or something else?
For each system design a set of simple, action-based rules and commit to them.
For example, a simple rule for health and wellness might be to “be active every day.” What does this mean? Gone are the goals to exercise four times per week. Gone are the daily decisions to find the motivation to make it to the gym.
To end up with different results, our work in 2021 is to design our system and live out our simple rules.
If you’d like to learn more about how to create a system for your life that will transform your year, sign up for our next free live webinar here.
Entering the new year without a long list of goals will be uncomfortable. But if you think systems first, success comes from how you choose to live your life each day.
Once you are truly living out your simple rules, goals become a powerful tool for self-improvement.
What’s a simple rule you’d like to live out in 2021? Let us know in the comments below.
Sign up for our next free live webinar.
