No. 20 — 11th June 2023

Systems vs Goals

We’ve all been told that the best way to achieve what we want in life — building a successful business, living a healthy lifestyle, spending more time with our loved ones — is by setting clear, actionable goals.

For many months, this is how I approached what I wanted too. I set clear targets for Juice’s app, for the weights I wanted to lift in the gym, and for the number of people I wanted to reach with this newsletter. I succeeded at a few, but made little to no progress in many of them. I decided to look closely at how role models of mine achieved what they aimed for. I realised that their progress had less to do with the goals they set, and more to do with the systems they implemented.

Systems are the day-to-day actions we take in pursuit of our goals. Each of us has systems we live by — like eating, sleeping, brushing our teeth and many more. We use these systems to sustain and nourish our overall health, preventing tedious problems from creeping in.

Imagine for a moment what would happen without systems. Without sleep, we’d be tired all the time. Without brushing our teeth, our oral hygiene would suffer. Even when we don’t set clear goals in these domains, the systems takes care of the results.

That’s how powerful systems really are. High-performers like Kobe Bryant understood this. Kobe worked out for 4-8 hours nearly everyday for 20 years in pursuit of becoming the best basketball player. While every other player in the league presumably had the same goal, he focused on the system of inputs rather than the outputs. This let his efforts compound significantly.

We can all learn something from this. By designing the right systems in business, fitness, family, or learning, we can take the necessary steps to unlock progress and realise our goals. I found 3 frameworks for implementing systems into our existing lifestyles. Each framework focuses on a slightly different aspect of systems, so I’d recommend checking each of them out:

Frameworks

1. ​The Atomic Habits framework — Outline the systems for specific goals and work on mastering them. For example, if your goal is to build a successful business, your systems are how you test product ideas, hire employees and run marketing principles.
2. ​The Pareto Principle — States that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of the efforts. Identify what that 20% consists of, and spend more time working on it.
3. ​The Kaizen Philosophy — Derived from Japanese management practices, Kaizen focuses on continuous improvement and pursuing small, incremental changes that lead to significant progress over time.

Systems brings goals to life — and it's exactly why we're building Juice's app around systems. To make sure you don't miss it, join the waitlist here. If you enjoyed this week's newsletter, consider sharing it with another goal-chaser.

Till next week,

Team Juice — Ria, Jay and Akash

Sera, Law Garden, Ahmedabad, India, 380006
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