Scott Adams, author of numerous interesting books and author of Dilbert has written an insightful essay on Goals vs Systems. It is full of common sense. I will now attempt an essay on Goals and Systems.
Goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. Also Big, Hairy and Audacious.
Goals happen when the ball of your actions crosses certain arbitrary goalposts within a deadline. There is a tension here between the allocation of resources, the constant leaking away of precious time, the obstacles that appear between you and the goalposts. Then there is the adrenaline rush of seeing the ball of your action whiz past the goalpost before the bell tolls.
Even though Goal-setting might serve its purpose for some, I personally find setting goals quite unsettling. There is the constant subconscious call to action, because something is yet to be achieved. The mind is focused on what is not done, and it gets fixated on getting it done till it gets done.
If the goal is achieved, then there is a sudden emptiness that then forces one to remove the goalposts and then put them somewhere further ahead. If the goal is achieved, but not within the arbitrary deadline, there is still a sense of underlying loss. If the goal is not even achieved, then there is an all-pervading sense of failure.
The entire exercise gives very little space for joy and contentment and is the reason why stress-related ailments are prevalent in society today. Diabetes, Hypertension, Gastro-intestinal problems are more often than not, born on the path where goals were being set.
Since goalposts demand that a goal be scored, the scoring of goals starts demanding more and more of one’s time and mind. Chunks of both time and mind are utilised towards scoring a goal. Mind-space and time-space starts getting allocated to the goal not yet achieved. Mind-space and Time-space are both finite for each individual, aren’t they?
I find that the goals approach makes me focus on the URGENT, whereas the systems approach helps me focus on the important.
Systems – What are the things that are important and meaningful for me? What are the things that I do or I am that are important and meaningful to others around me? What is it that gives me joy? What makes me want to become a better human being? What aspect of my daily existence is the prime-mover of my well-being and energy and focus? What aspect of my daily life if removed, will also remove meaningfulness?
The answers to the above give me a sense of where to allocate my finite time-space and mind-space. There is no rush. There is however each day a better understanding of who I am and what I should be doing.
There is a sense of calm, of contentment, of the joy of mindfulness, of the jar of life not getting filled with debris.
A goals approach is corrosive for me while a systems approach is positively accretive for me.