Systems, Not Goals
80% of people fail their New Year's resolutions in the first month. One of the main reasons for this is setting the wrong type of goals. The worst goals are vague and lack clear success criteria, like "read more" or "drink less". SMART goals, such as "read 1 book every month", are an improvement but we can still do better. We need to focus on systems over goals. For instance, how about cultivating a habit of reading for 30 minutes every day? By targeting the input rather than the output, we set ourselves up for success.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems — James Clear
Even if you manage to stick to an ill-defined goal, you might still end up at the wrong destination. This is because these types of goals often lead you to optimise for the wrong thing, as per Goodhart's Law ("When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"). Instead of reading 12 books that genuinely interest you or contribute to your self-development, you might be tempted to choose shorter books or read quickly instead of contemplatively, just to satisfy your arbitrary goal.
When you put a new system into place, tracking is crucial. As Peter Drucker said, "What gets measured gets done". It's too easy to fool yourself into thinking you are progressing when you're not. Eventually, you'll reach the point where you no longer need to track, as the system becomes embedded in your lifestyle. It'll feel weird when you don't read every day. This evolution is the benefit of developing long-lasting systems over ticking off short-sighted goals.
Incorporating regular reviews is also key. Why wait a full year to find out you are wildly off-track? Instead, review early and pivot if necessary. By sticking to a failing resolution, you are only hurting yourself — no one really cares whether you achieve what you initially set out to or something else entirely. In fact, be careful about sharing your plans at all. There is a fine line between accountability and receiving premature praise, reducing your chance of success.
One final thing to watch out for is alignment with your own values and interests. This may sound obvious, but I feel it's an understated trap which is easy to fall into in this online age. Beware of adopting an influencer-induced identity. As a concrete example, I have always wanted to learn another language. I've tried to do so for the past of couple years, initially by setting doomed goals and then by trying to develop a system. After some introspection, I realised that I only wanted to learn a new language to say that I could speak 2 languages, rather than for the love of the language itself. This misalignment guaranteed my failure.
This year, ditch the goals and grand declarations. Build systems that work for you and let the results follow.