👋🏼 Welcome new readers!
Thanks so much for being here; this newsletter shares links and resources to achieve more by doing less.
tl;dr
✍🏼 Why we love setting goals, and hate building systems 👇🏼
🎙 I'm hosting. a free webinar April 18th called Mastering Weekly Planning & Reflection. Learn more about it here!
🎥 Check out Notion's New Databases are Here to learn more about some big changes that just rolled out.
📜 The Manifest Planner is launching April 18th, largely because of this tweet.
📖 Check out Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt for a fresh perspective on productivity, achieving more by doing less
Why do we love goals but hate systems?
We’re taught from very early on that setting goals is the most important factor to achieving success. Yet, so many goals go unfulfilled. Why?
“A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
There are 3 reasons why love goals, and 3 reasons we hate systems.
❤️ Goals ❤️
It’s easy. Surely, making a declaration to your self or your team is an important first step to achieving a goal, but that’s all it is: a first step.
It feels productive.
Setting a goal, then jumping straight into a passion project comes from a rush of inspiration. The problem? Inspiration never shows up when you need it. Sometimes, you’ll need to work toward your goal while feeling ZERO inspiration.
Dopamine.
This is the reason why the start of the new year is riddled with resolutions, they bring a sense of positivity and optimism, that on their own, don’t get us very far.
☠️ Systems ☠️
They’re hard. Especially for those of us who don’t do systems-thinking work, building frameworks that manage your time, energy, and projects can feel daunting. The only way to get better at building them is by...building them.
We don’t know if we’re doing it right.
Where goals can be fluffy, systems require precision. This is where doubt creeps in. is this the metric I should be tracking? How do I know if this is the highest priority project? The short answer is you won’t really know the best course of action, but repeatedly making decisions on execution will give you insight as to what works and what doesn’t.
Systems inevitably highlight failures.
If you’re setting aggressive/attainable goals, you’re likely to fall short on most of them, and that may not feel great. This is in stark contrast to the dopamine hit that comes from setting goals. There’s no way to avoid this, which is why it’s important to focus on the gain, and not the gap.
“Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.” – James Clear, in Atomic Habits
Rather than pit goals and systems against each other, it’s really about working on both in a clear sequence. If setting goals is the starting point, it’s quickly followed by things like quarterly objectives, key results to track, projects to prioritize, and habits to build.
Goals allow us to think audaciously about what we can accomplish, but the systems we build for ourselves will be what get us there.
🎥 Live Webinar: Mastering Weekly Planning & Reflection
We'll be diving into building a dashboard squarely focused on weekly planning, exploring how goals, journaling, projects, and habits can be rolled into one view, much of which is made possible with Notion's latest databases update.
I'll also be giving away 10 copies of the upcoming Manifest Planner Notion Template, which will include a full guide and icon pack!
New on YouTube: Intro to Notion's New Databases
I recently did a video walkthrough of Notion's new databases, including the feature I've been waiting on FOREVER. If you're looking for ways to optimize your databases, definitely check it out!
The Manifest Weekly Planner Launches in Two Weeks!
Thanks to overwhelming interest via Twitter and Instagram, I decided to turn my personal dashboard into a Premium Notion Template, and it's going live in less than two weeks!
Packed with spaces for OKRs, Journaling, Project Management, and Habit Tracking, the Manifest Planner is designed to not only make all of these easily accessible, but organize them in a way that mirrors the natural progression of the week.
The Manifest Planner also incorporates much of the feedback that's come in from Manifest OS users, as well as insights that've come from consulting with larger companies on workflow design.
This is the most intelligent template I've built, by far.
What I’m Reading: Free to Focus from Michael Hyatt
I just finished reading Free to Focus from Michael Hyatt, and it's definitely worth it, especially if you're looking for a fresh perspective on productivity.
Hyatt unwraps a framework over the course of the book – much of which is inspired by other voices like David Allen and Cal Newport –but does so in a comprehensive, actionable format.
Here are some big takeaways from the book:
Clear the decks. Carve out time to reassess your goals, priorities, and habits.
Set your baseline. Identify where you before ideating on where you want to get.
Clarify objectives. Define what you want to weed out what you don’t want.
Find true north. Set up systems to determine what’s working and what’s not.
Schedule margin. carve out blocks of time for rejuvenation to maximize focus when you need it.
That’s it for now! If you enjoyed this post, I'd love for you to share it with friends!
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