In reading the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear I have learned that the systems you develop and use in your life have more power than the goals you set for yourself. Your systems, or habits, produce the results you get in life. Goals end once you achieve them, but systems continue on in your life long after you have achieved your goals.

James Clear says: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” What this means is that the systems, or habits, in your life ultimately lead to the results you are getting. For example, if you set a goal to lose weight, but you don’t change your habits, then you won’t achieve your goal because the habits in your life will keep you from losing the weight you want to lose.

Implement New Systems

This is not bad news. Instead, it should inspire you to change the systems in your life. Author and professional speaker John C. Maxwell says: “Change your thinking, change your life.” This can apply equally to the habits in your life by saying: Change your habits, change your life. I encourage you to identify the systems in your life that are producing unwanted results and to replace them with new habits that produce the results you desire. I also encourage you to add new systems to your life that will produce the results you want to achieve.

For example, I envision a future where I am a paid professional speaker. To achieve this dream, I need to develop the content I will speak about. I learned that many professional speakers have a blog and write books, so I started my blog to develop a system of regularly writing new content that I can eventually use as a professional speaker. I have not yet achieved my goal of being a paid professional speaker, but I have developed a system where I write a new blog article every week. This is something I now enjoy doing and it is now a regular part of my life.

Another example of adding a new habit to your life is my system of daily action plans, which I have written about in previous blog articles. I would sometimes forget to follow through on commitments I made to other people, or commitments I made to myself. The reason being is I would simply forget something I had agreed to do or planned to do.

What was my solution to this problem? I started planning my week every Sunday and creating daily action plans (in other words, to-do lists) for each day of the week, Monday through Sunday.

Now I always remember the commitments I have made to other people and to myself, and I make regular progress on my goals. This happens because I now have my system of to-do lists for each day of the week and I schedule daily action items in advance when I agree to do something for someone else or when I make a commitment to myself. This had made me more effective and organized, and it is helping me to fulfill my responsibilities and achieve my goals.

Replace Systems That Aren’t Working

In addition to implementing new systems in your life, you can also drop systems that aren’t working. However, you need to do more than just drop a system that isn’t working. You need to replace it with a new system that takes the place of the old habit. This will help to ensure that you don’t fall back on the old habit you are trying to eliminate.

For example, I used to have a bad habit of drinking a lot of pop. However, in September 2023 I decided I’d had enough with drinking pop, and I dropped this habit from my life. I am now more than 10 months pop free, and I replaced my pop drinking habit with the habit of drinking water.

What about you? What bad habits do you have and what systems in your life are not producing the results you want? Think about alternatives to these systems and add those new habits to your life. It is even better if these new systems replace the old ones.

For example, if you are addicted to video games and you spend all your free time playing games, you could find a new habit to take the place of video games. For example, you could join a community organization, such as Toastmasters International, and spend your free time learning and practicing communication and leadership skills. This is how I beat my own addiction to massively multiplayer online role playing games. I found that writing, practicing, and giving speeches at my Toastmasters club was more rewarding than playing video games. And it led to new skills and increased confidence in my life.

Goals Are Still Important

James Clear did say that “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This does not mean you should give up on your goals or that goals are not important. Instead, it means that you need to develop systems that will lead you to achieving your goals. Then, once those systems because habits in your life, you will likely keep following those habits and you will continue to produce the results that your goal was designed to achieve.

For example, consider weight loss again. Setting a goal to lose weight is good. Developing a new healthy eating system, such as following a ketogenic diet, will help you to achieve your goal. And after you have achieved your weight loss goal, continuing your new healthy habits will keep the weight from coming back.

Another aspect of achieving this weight loss goal could include adding regular gym workouts to your weekly routine and going for daily walks. This will make you more physically fit, which can add additional health benefits beyond just losing weight. And once they become habits, you will find that it becomes easy to do them regularly without having to think about it.

Conclusion

As James Clear says, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This means you can change the results you are getting by implementing new systems in your life. Your habits, whether conscious or unconscious, produce the outcomes you get in life.

Author and professional speaker John C. Maxwell says: “Change your thinking, change your life.” This can apply equally to the habits in your life by saying change your habits, change your life. This can mean replacing old habits with new ones. It can also mean adding new habits that produce the results you want to achieve in life.

My challenge to you is to identify the systems in your life that are producing results you don’t want, and to replace them with new systems that achieve the results you do want. Also, if there is something you want in life that you are not currently getting, adopt new habits in your life that will bring your goals to fruition.

For me, I started a blog as a first step on my journey to becoming a paid professional speaker. What step can you take, and what systems can you add to your life, to get the results you most want in life?