#25 — Systems vs Goals

Happy holidays!

Unless you’re a quota-carrying sales rep, I hope you’re getting off Zoom/Teams today. 😬 And if you’re in sales, here’s a good laugh.

Are you writing personal goals or new years resolutions?

I’m not. 🤷‍♂️

It’s never been my thing. I like Jason Fried’s anti-goals piece. Scott Adams also has a good take on “systems” as the replacement for goals. And James Clear has a similar framework.

I talked a little more about habits and systems on Kyle Lacy’s podcast this week (cross posted to my feed). His show is called “Revenue Diaries,” but we only talked about personal topics like managing stress, parenting in the pandemic, assessing risk, and ice cream brands.

I’ve also been coming back to the architect vs gardener metaphor this week. It helped me think about my default mode and reflect on the good/bad/ugly in my work style. I'm an architect by default, but I might practice gardening more in 2021. Perhaps this is another useful layer to thinking about the new year.

Do you like this metaphor? What’s your default style?

Built in Seattle Podcast

🎙 CLIPS FROM THE ARCHIVE:

Joe Heitzeberg (CEO & Co-Founder at Crowd Cow) on defining success:

My definition of success as an entrepreneur, ultimately, is that you can remember the napkin moment, but you build towards something that doesn't need you involved. It’s impact and it’s ability to live on, outlives you.