Namaste, and welcome to my blog and podcast channel - 'A Piece of my Learning.' Today, I want to share something I have learned over the past year. I was watching an interview with one of the famous authors named James Clear and one of his statements that anchored within me was

    I read a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear last year. One important topic it discussed was 'forget about goals and focus on the systems.' The author says that a person who loves walking will walk further than someone who has the goal of walking X km or Y hours daily.

    While setting goals can provide direction and motivation, they can also create a sense of pressure to perform. This can lead to disappointment if not met. Moreover, goals can be limiting, as they often focus on a single outcome, rather than the bigger picture.

    Now you, just like any other human being, will have some distractions. You will want to eat that dessert you have been craving or you will have a body injury that prevents you from going for your morning jog for a couple of days. Now the key point here is your resolution is about setting a system for being fit. Then it does not matter what distractions come your way, you will fall to the level of your systems. Even if you put on some weight or have some injury, your system will bring you back on track. The idea is to look at the bigger picture and work on creating habits that can make you fit instead of just losing a fixed amount of weight.

    So if you have already set your goals for 2023 and feel like some of them are already on the toss, you still have time to make amends to those resolutions. Focus on creating better systems or creating better habits than simply setting a goal.

The second thing is about finding a way to track these habits and stay motivated. Do you know what my way of staying motivated is? - 'Streaks' aka 'consistency number'


    So I have been maintaining these Snapchat streaks with some friends of mine for over 1000 days now. One of my friends said it looks like a waste of time. What do you gain from maintaining these streaks? After thinking about that, I realized I was creating habits and staying motivated toward them all because of these streaks.


    Allow me to elaborate on my perspective. So, every day after my morning routine, I snap a picture of something I am grateful for or something that is going around in my mind. I then send it to a few of my friends by clicking each of their names. One benefit is, it allows me to feel grateful for the people in my life. Another benefit is, I am strongly motivated to continue that activity by looking at my consistency number.

Similarly, a few weeks ago, I thought about learning a new language. I ended up downloading the app 'Duolingo', which also shows streaks. It's been almost 70 days now and I am confident about another habit I set. I practice at least one exercise in a foreign language that allows me to maintain my streak.

Your inspiration can be something different. As James says in his book, you must reward yourself for the habits you wish to set up. So, you need to find what is it that allows you to set up a system and follow it every day.

So do not look at the distractions you have had so far in this new year. Focus on the systems. Goals will get completed along the way. While being fit, you will lose the desired amount of weight. While practicing 15 mins of another language, I will learn more than 1 foreign language.

Thank you for being a kind reader and listener. Here onward, I will be sharing my learnings from not just stories but also books and movies. You can click the link below to stay up to date with my content. So stay tuned for new content and some exciting surprises.

 

You can join Mazavyapar's FREE Book Reading Club
Book Reading Club


👇 Join my whatsapp group to read my latest blogs and listen to my podcasts

whatsapp group for a piece of my learning

A piece of my learning Youtube Channel