The Dirty Truth About Goals.

read time: 5 minutes

Last month marked the feared halfway point in 2023.

…And I guarantee that you haven’t achieved as much as you planned to.

I know that dreadful feeling of being behind on your goals all too well…

Like most people, I would set big goals for myself to achieve every year.

“This is my year”, I would say to myself.

“I’m going to scale my business to 10k per month, grow my following to 100k, and put on 10 pounds of muscle.”

Fast forward to March. I’d have fallen flat on my face, completely and utterly burnt out.

Getting motivated…burning out…getting motivated...burning out.

This is how I operated for YEARS until I found out the truth about goals. (and the much better alternative)

Goals…Suck.

I used to think I was the reason I couldn’t hit my goals.

But the truth: They just flat-out SUCK.

Winners and losers have the same goals.

As James Clear puts it, “Goal setting suffers from a serious case of survivorship bias.”

We as a society only look at the winners but brush those who fall short under the rug as if they didn’t exist.

If two people can have the same goal and only one succeeds, the goal clearly isn’t what makes the difference.

What is this mysterious missing puzzle piece then? What do some triumph while others fall?

Winners Have Systems.

Simply put the people who focus on what they’re doing and not the result of what they’re doing win. 

Let me say that again.

Those who focus on what they’re doing and not the result of what they’re doing win.

James Clear gives this example in his book Atomic Habits:

As soon as I stopped setting bullsh*t meaningless & generic goals and started focusing on building systems, my life changed.

Making progress becomes much easier to achieve and a lot less overwhelming when you’re not constantly looking at the big picture.

You may not get the results you’re looking for in a year, but if you focus on your systems no doubt you’ll get it in 5 years.

So the secret to goal-setting?

F*ck goals. Focus on systems instead.

How to Build Systems To Carry You To Success. (On Autopilot)

#1: Make Your Goals Actionable. (Create Your System)

Ask yourself, “What actions that I can do every day are going to get me closer to my goals?”

You’re a content creator and you want to grow your audience to 100k followers.

What can you do every day to get closer to that goal?:

• Post everyday

• Network with 3 people every day

• Post a newsletter every week

This may seem like it’s not a lot, but let’s look at the big picture.

In a year, you will have:

• Posted 365 times

• Networked with 1,095 people

• Posted 52 newsletters

This is the power of consistency.

Action:

• Create ‘systems’ of actionable goals to make achieving your goals much more manageable.

#2: Change Your Behavior:

Most people have it wrong.

You don’t change after you hit your goals, you must change first.

The Olympic runner doesn’t get good at his sport after winning the Gold Medal, he masters it first.

You don’t get what you think you deserve, you get what you actually deserve. 

So how can we actually change our behavior?

That’s where the next step comes in.

Action:

• Recognize what you’ll need to change in order to consistently do your actionable goals.

#3: Get 1% Better Every Day (Marginal Gains Theory)

Changing your lifestyle doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process.

Focus every day on improving the last. Where most people mess up is they think of the ‘big picture’ and get overwhelmed.

Look at today vs. yesterday & this week vs. last week.

How can you get a little bit more done? How can you improve just a small amount today?

Before you know it, you’ll be in a completely different place than when you started.

Action:

• Focus on improving 1% every single day and watch the progress come in.

#4: Build Your Feedback Loop

Once a week I sit down and look at my analytics for all my socials.

By comparing my stats to past data, I’m able to know if my content improved or not.

If it has, I continue with my current content.

If it hasn’t, I evaluate why my content got lower engagement and make the changes I need to.

This allows me to consistently improve my content week over week.

You can do the same thing for any goal.

Example: You want to get absolutely jacked.

• Action: Get in the gym.

• Review data: Where can I increase my weight? How can I improve my diet?

• Improve: Take action on those changes you just found.

Action: 

• Use the Action-Review-Improve Framework to consistently improve yourself every week.

Thanks for reading!

See you next week,

- Matt “F*ck Your Goals” Harriman

PS:

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help:

1. Grab my FREE self-reflection guide to break your burnout & make consistent progress in life & business easy.

2.  Book a 1-1 Strategy Session to gain clarity on your routine, habits, and systems.