A Workshop Companion: How You Can Replace a "Quick-Fix" Goal Strategy with a Reliable System of Tiny Daily Milestones

Goals set you up to fail! Here's why...

Let's say, for example, your goal is to finish a marathon within a certain time. Would you show up at the start line on the day of the race and just start running? Of course not! There'd be a plan, with the marathon as its completion.

But what happens next? You finished the race. The result will make you either happy or unhappy. The goal you set is now in the past, and so is the motivation to prepare. Without the goal, your plan no longer has a purpose.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear asks: "If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?

I think you would."

A stand-alone goal that's not part of a system is like a houseplant that dies when you forget to water it! Goals can help you by clarifying the direction and purpose of your daily practices. Your system is the small daily practices that keep you on track. The accumulated effects of practicing a system of tiny, purposeful actions are like compounding interest in a bank account.

What would happen if you ignored the goal of your dog not barking at strangers and focused instead on a system of tiny daily actions to build emotional resilience?

Improvements might not be noticeable, but they always matter.

The secret of a good system is recognizing that small practices repeated consistently will inevitably lead to huge results. It's the natural Law of Cause and Effect.

An Effect always has a Cause. A Cause always has an Effect.

The small practices within your system are causes; they always produce an effect. The smallest interaction with your dog is a cause resulting in an effect on your dog's neuroception of safety. You are affecting the dog's inner bodily perception of the world as safe or dangerous.

A dog barks at strangers because they trigger a neuroception of danger. Barking is an Effect of that automatic inner sensation. To change the effect, first change the cause.

But a lasting change in how the dog's autonomic nervous system responds [barking] to triggers in the environment [strangers] can only be achieved by accumulating tiny results over time.

Tiny daily actions are like tiny deposits in a savings account. The difference tiny actions make can be barely noticeable...or even invisible in the moment. But time is on your side. It's OK if you don't see a visible change in your dog right away. The Law of Cause and Effect is operating behind the scenes, and the interest on your deposit is compounding! Everything you do with your dog matters...are you making deposits or withdrawals?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear explains the principle of "1% Better Every Day".

"Here's how the math works out: if you can get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time you're done. Conversely, if you get 1% worse each day for one year, you'll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into much more."

A Reliable System makes time your friend; a weak system makes time your enemy

When you operate within a purposeful system, you won't feel time pressure because each day produces small milestones that accumulate.

You won't judge progress by tangible results because chasing results makes time your enemy. You could achieve a temporary result, but unless it exists within a framework, it leaves you back where you started when it doesn't hold up.

Daily ups and downs take on new meaning and value as part of a system. One day, your dog is more responsive to your regulation exercises and is less aroused by strangers. Another day, he has less resilience and barks at a stranger. It's part of the process, the big picture that is taking shape over time.

When you have a reliable system, time is your friend.

The Rule of Thirty-two Degrees

COMING SOON!

A Reliable System sets you up to recognize everyday successes so you can leverage them.