0445am is quite shocking when you’re not used to it. No snoozing allowed, just get out of bed immediately.
Josh (son #1) and I have initiated a 0515 book discussion each Tuesday. I have laid out everything the night before so I don’t forget something -
I have made a ritual out of letting the dogs out, taking my meds, grabbing my book & notebook and heading out around 0505 for the short drive over to Josh’s house.
By 0515 we’re sitting at the kitchen table with steaming mugs of coffee. Each of us has a copy of our current book for discussion.
The procedure is to read a chapter or two the week previous to the discussion. Each of us make notes and highlight the passages we would like to discuss.
Our choice, ATOMIC HABITS: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, by James Clear is perfect for initiating this weekly routine.
The premise is that like atoms, tiny habits, when melded together into a system, can create extraordinary change and power.
It’s no secret that habits can be incredibly destructive or beneficial.
Habits for the most part have a negative connotation. In this sense, they equate to poor life choices (slothfulness, unhealthy food, idleness, etc.) or destructive addictions (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, porn, binging, etc.).
These habits focus on short-term gratification, ignoring the long-term effect/damage.
Positive habits, on the other hand have the opposite effect. They concentrate more on the long-term results, often appearing to neglect the short term gratification.
The Compound Interest of Self-Improvement
Clear says that habits “are the compound interest of self-improvement”.
That is a fantastic way to look at it. When we start a savings account, compound interest seems as foreign as distant land. Given time, however, as we see the acceleration of accumulation in our account, it becomes clear. Not only is the principle gaining interest, but all added interest is gaining interest as well.
Systems vs. Goals
Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, has a good way of looking at goals vs. systems . . .
In my new book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, I talk about using systems instead of goals. For example, losing ten pounds is a goal (that most people can’t maintain), whereas learning to eat right is a system that substitutes knowledge for willpower.
Clear points out, “Winners and losers have the same goals . . . If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers”.
A goal focuses only on results. Systems create the process to achieve those results.
A football team’s goal may be to win a national championship. The system to achieve that result is in recruiting the right players, conducting effective practice, and hiring a skilled coaching staff.
Even a goal that is broken down into steps does not last. Many times I have said I want to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date and broken it down into weekly steps such as a pound a week.
Never happened. I would invariably become discouraged when I didn’t hit the weekly mark.
Ultimately, I would always fail because I was never clear on a system to maintain the momentum.
Instead of trying to achieve the goal through willpower, focus instead on implementing a system (habits) that bring about the desired results.
Take Away
Goals rely on willpower. Systems rely on knowledge.
Pursuing a goal alone often disappoint and discourage to the point of giving up.
Even if, by shear willpower, we achieve our goal, we often revert back to where we were because we have no system to maintain our new position.
A system of habits becomes a way of life.
There will be much more to come, but that is what I took away from our first Tuesday morning session.
I am looking forward to learning more from our Tuesday mornings and sharing it here on UnCorked.
Cork Hutson is Christian thinker, writer, and adventurer. Decades of life experience, lessons, and personal stories have given him a keen perspective with a great desire to help others escape conformity. There’s so much more — Romans 12:2