In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear famously wrote, “We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.”
Goals are too pie-in-the-sky. They float around in the abstract world, always out of reach.
Systems, on the other hand, are tangible. You can work a system.
Ask yourself what’s easier, a thousand mile journey on foot? Or walking just 100 steps a day, day after day? The 100 steps, right?
The thousand mile journey is too big and daunting of a goal, it’s like climbing Mount Everest in a day. This illustrates why you must chunk down your goals into actionable systems.
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Don’t think in terms of “I need to book 5 meetings this week.” That’s not actionable. You will stall out at best, and crash and burn at worst. Instead, I want you to think “I need to make 50 calls today.” That’s doable. That’s actionable. And it’s time bound. THIS is how you accomplish your goals.
Leveraging smart psychology like this can make the difference between you succeeding or burning out and throwing in the towel. Trust me, I’ve been successfully working systems for years, with decades of forgotten goals strewn about as ruins of my past.
Here’s the thing… When you break down big goals into small systems — and put the concrete habits into place to work your system — you’ll see that those 50 calls a day will help you breeze right past 5 booked meetings, week after week. It works like magic. Better than magic.
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Why Focusing on Goals Can Be Detrimental to Your Success
Hypothetically, let’s say you weigh 380 lbs and you want to lose weight. The new year rolls around and you set a goal to shed 100 lbs. Chances are, you’ll hit the gym for a few days and, when the going gets tough, you’ll give up completely.
Then the self-loathing kicks in, and so you eat and eat and binge Netflix for weeks. Your failure sends you into a downward spiral that makes you worse off than before you set the goal. Should have worked a system instead, right?
Or, if your goal is to make partner at a law firm, but you don’t get it, you might jump ship to another law firm or another line of work altogether. Like a dog chasing its tail, you’ll chase other goals, which were never your primary goal. Even if you accomplish these secondary and tertiary goals, they won’t make you happy because they weren’t your first goal of making partner at the law firm.
You see how goals can really undermine your long-term success? Of course, this isn’t always the case, but most people are better off ignoring goals and focusing on systems.
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Goals are too outcome-focused
Your goal might be to close $2M in sales this year, but the goal doesn’t tell you how to make that happen. You need a system!
Goals create unnecessary pressure
While not all goal-setting is bad, they can create undue pressure that negatively impacts your sales performance. You need a system!
Goals have an endpoint
Once you accomplish your sales goal, then what? You are likely to lose motivation and drive because you already accomplished what you set out to achieve. You need a system!
Goals don’t factor in setbacks
Life happens, and if you’re on track to hit a goal when life throws you a curveball, you could wake up in a world of hurt and find it hard to bounce back. You guessed it… you need a system!
OK, that’s enough harping on the drawbacks of focusing on goals. Now let’s talk about a better alternative to goals… SYSTEMS.
The Hard-hitting Impact of Systems in Sales
Now let me clarify something. It’s OK to set goals. It’s even good to set goals. But once you set them, you have to reverse engineer them back to focus on systems and daily habits.
Goal > Systems > Habits. This is how you reverse engineer success. It’s the secret that hardly anyone is talking about.
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Here are some real-world examples to make this even more concrete.
Getting in shape
- Goal: Lose 10 pounds in 30 days.
- System: Create a meal prep routine, exercise for 30 minutes daily, and track water intake.
- Habit: Every day you hit the gym first thing in the morning.
Sales Growth
- Goal: Increase sales numbers by 20% in Q1.
- System: Implement weekly strategy reviews, improve lead qualification processes, and dedicate two hours daily to prospecting.
- Habit: Every day the moment you sit down at your desk, you open your weekly strategy doc and review it, then spend 30 minutes improving your lead qualification process, then prospect from 10-12pm. Every day.
Personal Development
- Goal: Read 20 books in 2025
- System: Read 20 minutes every day.
- Habit: Each night before bed you put your phone in another room, pick up the books by your bedside, take a deep breath, and start reading.
Systems build consistency and compound success. Literally, success breeds success. It’s like interest working in your favor. And just like you never want to withdraw from your investments (lest you lose out on accumulated interest!), you must guard your systems with your life. If you fall off the system/habits wagon, it can be a nightmare to get back on. Motivation can be hard to come by.
Final Words
Sales systems — or any smart systems in life — can help sustain progress for the long-haul, even after your goals are accomplished. They give you complete control over your future, allowing you to write your ticket to success. And they shift your mindset from “maybe one day” to “I won today.”
Remember, it’s fine to set goals, just be sure you reverse engineer them back to focus on systems and habits. And track your systems and habits, not your goals.
Right now, take the opportunity to look at your top 1-3 goals for the new year and beyond. Clean house here and write down the systems that will ensure your success. Then write out the daily habits that you’ll adopt in order to carry out the system.
It’s really that easy. Just commit to daily progress, and you’re golden. Do it right, and I guarantee your systems will elevate you to a life you never imagined possible.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso