Forget About Goals: Focus on Habits and Building Systems

It’s hard to believe we have reached the end of 2024 and will start 2025 on Wednesday. It has definitely been a year of change and we know that the new year promises more of the same.

One of the things that many people do at the start of the year is set new year’s resolutions-which are almost always set up as goals. For example, “I want to lose weight” or “I want to exercise more.” While these are noble ideas, often times after a few weeks, these goals fall by the wayside and we have not made the improvement we were looking for.

Instead of focusing on a goal or two for the new year, I am going to challenge you to focus on building positive habits. I must admit that goal setting has always been a part of my work as a goal and long term goals certainly have a purpose. However, I have changed my focus after being gifted by a great friend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Clear’s book focuses on the importance of systems and that habits are the path to changing our identity, not goals. He says, “success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations. Focusing on processes and identity based habits instead of outcome based habits will always get us farther ahead. He wants us to focus on what we can do to get 1% better every day, which translates to 37.78% better in a year.

How do you do that? Clear focuses on 4 laws of behavior change:

1. Cue: Make it obvious. Start by making a list of your daily habits, which makes us aware of what we are doing on a daily basis. What are we missing, or what is a habit that we need to change. We could then identify a habit that already exists and stack a new habit on top of that. Decide on your habit you want to focus on and then design an environment to support that. For example, if you want to get stronger, set a pair of dumb bells by the chair you normally sit in to remind you to lift. A key to building positive habits is putting in the work on a consistent basis.

2. Craving: This has to do with making a habit attractive or fun for you to be a part of. Clear says “habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings.” We can create attractive behaviors while doing something we really enjoy. For example, we may go for a walk or run while listening to a podcast. Another recommendation is to create rituals to start the day that prepare you for a specific situation. Another way to support craving is to join a culture where the habit you want to build is the normal behavior and you already have something in common with the group. This might be joining an exercise group or even finding a partner who shared a common habit to build and can support your habit building journey.

3. Response: This step asks you to focus on repetition and not perfection. Clear says that habits are formed by frequency, not time.” We can’t assume that putting time into something will make it better-it’s the number of times and the quality of the reps that counts. Clear mentions that a new habit should not feel like a challenge and something that we begin to do automatically so that we don’t even think about.

4. Reward: The final step is to make your habit satisfying by adding a bit of immediate pleasure to habits that pay off in the long run. Clear says that “what is rewarded is repeated, and what is punished is avoided.” For example, if you are building a daily exercise habit and you reach a certain milestone, rewarding yourself with a day off or a Starbucks coffee is something that can make the habit continue.

Clear’s ideas are a very systematic approach to accomplishing goals you may have but instead of focusing on the results, this approach helps you build a habit that is bound to last much longer and have a much more positive impact on you. Clear talks about building positive habits as being a continuous process with no finish line and that it is important to compound habits through habit stacking in order to positively influence you in the biggest fashion.

I love Clear’s process of building habits and believe it works in all aspects of personal improvement that people may have. I have shared this process with a few teams I have worked with and it is vital to got back to the 4 steps and remind yourself of what is important in building the habit.

I used these steps early in the year to start my newsletter. The habit I wanted to build was writing more. Following the steps has helped me send out a newsletter to almost 100 subscribers each week on Monday at 8:00 am for ¾ of a year with no sign of letting up! Having a system in place has made a huge difference as has receiving positive feedback and responses from many of you!

Building new habits can seem like a daunting task, but it is very doable, and the rewards can be life changing. I am planning to start the year using the 4 steps to build new habit and achieve even more than the previous year. I plan to grow the reach of the newsletter by adding more subscribers and impacting an even bigger audience in a meaningful way!

What positive habits would you like to build in 2025? I challenge you to start with listing your daily habits and taking a look at what is missing in order to enhance your life. Putting a system in place instead of just randomly trying to improve is always the best way to have the biggest impact. If you decide to try Clear’s process and would like some support or have questions, please reach out as I would love to help support your journey in building positive habits!

Happy New Year to you and your family and have a great week!

Coach K