We are just a few weeks into the new year.
How is your motivation meter?
It has only been days since the ball dropped and we rang in the new year with renewed hope and a sense of purpose.
But now, are we back to the daily routine?
Perhaps the work demands piled up over the holidays. Or, perhaps the kids going back to school threw things off. Or, maybe because it is the middle of winter and the short days and gloomy weather make us feel lazy.
Despite our best of intentions, goals alone do not stand a chance against the realities of life.
In our previous post, we introduced the idea of having a system for living and the importance of identifying simple rules to follow as we go about our daily lives.
The call to action was: Think systems first.
The questions we often hear are “Won’t this lead to getting stuck?” or “How will I achieve the success and happiness I desire without goals?”
In our signature framework called Pathway to Personal Mastery, which is a roadmap for creating systems to achieve personal and professional mastery, the first journey to achieving this is called “Stabilize You.” During this journey we deliberately decouple ourselves from our goals. This allows us the mental space and motivation to understand our current system for living and design our desired system.
Think of the journey towards success as a direction and not a destination. Systems do not have deadlines and neither does our journey towards success.
Living our system does not require motivation or willpower. No decisions are needed. We live our lives by our simple rules and we know that we will be moving in the right direction
However, it’s not always a straight line. As we all know, systems do tend to drift. Therefore, every simple rule we adopt will require a feedback loop. The good news is that the feedback loop for simple rules is also simple to understand and apply.
A system check is a simple yes or no, go or no-go, ok or not ok. That’s it.
No need for complex measures or trackers.
To perform a system check on ourselves, we will need to develop the habit of mindfulness (a simple, but powerful practice that will be highlighted in the near future).
For now, take a minute to perform a system check by assessing if the following are ok or not ok based upon your definition of success:
- Health and Wellness
- Financial Wellness
- Emotional Wellbeing
- Career Success
- Relationships
- Spirituality
Now, tally up your score.
Congratulations! You have just completed a system check. If you could not answer ok for each question or you did not know what criteria to use to attempt an answer, then you do not have a system for success. And, that’s ok. Recognizing that is the first step to creating one.
If you’d like to learn more about this framework for creating systems in your life, join our upcoming free live webinar by clicking here.
Now, we’d like to hear from you: after completing your system check, what’s one thing you want to prioritize this year? Let us know in the comments below.
Sign up for our next free live webinar.
