Systems, Not Goals

We are what we repeatedly do.

For the past several years, my online bio has stated, “Goals in life include meeting Tina Fey and getting people to spell his last name with two N’s.”

Tina Fey is hilarious. It’s also rather hilarious how often friends of mine — particularly overeducated Jesuits  — chop off the second N in my last name. Countless emails intended for me have been sent instead to “Michael Rossman.”

I would love for people to spell my name correctly, but my goals don’t mean much without systems in place that would make them more likely to happen. Goals without habits don’t go anywhere.

Will Durant once wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Anyone can have goals. Systems for success differentiate us.