New Years Sytems?

     It’s that time again. We finally have come up for air after a busy holiday season with time for reflection. Yes those dreaded New Year’s Resolutions are upon us. This is the show I encourage all of you to set goals, to plan how next year is going to be better than last year and all that good stuff. Well this year I saw an interesting post on Entrepreneur.com about not setting goals at all. What? Not set goals? Where Millie is and what have you done with her? Hold up a minute and let me finish. The article explained how setting goals can be counterproductive, even downright self-sabotaging. How do we account at the end of the year for those goals not marked off our list? We feel guilty, defeated, like everything else we accomplished didn’t matter.

This is where systems come in. Systems are a beautiful thing. Many of you that have read my books know I am a big fan of systems. Why? Systems don’t fail, people do. So this article suggests instead of posting outrageous goals that we may never reach,  place systems in our life instead. 

What is the difference between goals and systems?  The author explains if you are a coach, your goal is to win a championship. Your system is what your team does at practice each day. If you are a chef, your goal is to be an award winning chef. Your system is to create exciting and creative dishes pulling together the best ingredients available. If you are a small business owner, your goal is to build a lucrative business. Your system is your sales and marketing process.

So what would happen if you ignored your goals and focused on your systems only? Would you still be successful? I remember when I was a regional manager for a manufacturer trying to increase market share and sales. Instead of hounding for numbers, I encouraged the sales consultants to help salons improve their business and increase clients. Inevitably, growing salons need to buy more products. Different system, same result.

 

      It is much like what I shared last year about becoming the person that has the goal you seek. What does a successful salon owner wear? What classes do they take? Who are they studying and what are they reading. What is their system for success?

The author goes on to share that setting goals can actually reduce your current happiness. We tend to get stuck in between and believe we won’t be happy or successful until we achieve my goal. Reduce the stress of the burden of the goal and commit to the process, not the goal.

Goals can actually hinder long term progress. Think about the runner who has the goal to run a marathon. What’s there to continue to motivate you once you have achieved the goal? We end up in a vicious cycle of working on a goal and not working on a goal, defeating forward progress. Goals can be short sighted. System based activities aren’t about hitting a particular achievement; they are about committing to the process.

Goals are not a bad thing; they can be motivating for planning progress. Systems actually make the progress happen. So in planning out what you want to improve this year implement systems into your daily life and commit to making them happen. Building an amazing business doesn’t happen overnight, it happens in the daily activities that move you forward.  So this coming year, commit to the process, because that’s smart marketing. Read the whole article here