Goals Are For Losers. Systems Are For Winners.

I got the title of this blog from Scott Adams' book ‘How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big’.

Goals are for loser, systems are for winners
- Scott Adams

Other than being a great read this is a useful way to think about your health and fitness.

It follows the idea that if you control the inputs, you can determine the outcomes. People who seem to have good luck are often the people who have a system that allows luck to find them.

From a health, fitness and wellbeing perspective this holds true.

It is much more important to focus on being fit and healthy than focusing on looking fit and healthy.

It’s not to say goals aren’t important. They are. But rather than focusing on the end goal focus instead on living according to the systems (daily actions) required to produce the outcome.

Take the process of eating a nourishing breakfast for example. Rather than beating yourself up every day for eating an under nourished breakfast focus instead on building a system around eating a better breakfast.

It might go something like this…

The System

Outcome: to consistently eat a 3 egg  omelette, veggie smoothie and drink fresh coffee every morning for breakfast

Equipment: pan, blender, Italian coffee maker

Ingredients: eggs, veg, fruit, greens powder, ginger, ground coffee, olive oil

New Habits Required: get up 30mins earlier, go to bed 30mins earlier, include ingredients to my weekly shopping list, use the extra 30 mins of a morning to make and eat breakfast

By creating a system you will no longer find yourself dwelling on the goal of eating or not eating a nourishing breakfast as the case may be.

Instead you focus on working a system every day. And as a consequence of working the system you achieve the goal of consistently eating a healthy, nourishing breakfast every morning.

When applying a new system you won’t get it right straight away. Expect to fail a few times before refining a system that works.

To quote Scott Adams… Use the lessons from your failures to refine systems that work for you and luck will follow you everywhere you go.

Matt