Focus daily on your systems instead of your goals

There's a certain instinct about success that I've developed over time, and I want to share that with you. The idea is that I focus more on systems in my life than I focus on the goals and whether I have achieved goals or not. And I think it's a, it's a really important distinction because when we focus on goals, it becomes easy to compare ourselves with other people. Oh, I want to achieve this much money. I want to have this many followers. Followers is easier to compare because, oh, I want to get to 1,000 Facebook fans. Okay, now I want to get to, you know, 10,000 Facebook fans or whatever. And then you start comparing yourself. Oh, that person has already reached 1,000 fans, or, oh, that person is, you know, less fans than me. It's so much easier to start comparing and contrasting yourself with other people when you focus so much on the numbers, on the future number particularly. And what happens is if you have a future number, let's say you want to get to 1,000 Facebook fans or 1,000 YouTube subscribers, right? Then every day you look at that number or every time you look at that number where you're currently at, your subconscious is saying, you are not yet enough. You are not yet there. And so therefore you are not yet successful. And so therefore there is not yet really a reason to be happy. So there's a wonderful line by this guy's name Naval. He's so famous that he just goes by his first name. You can Google him, Naval, N-A-V-A-L. And he says, desire I'm going to paraphrase him. Okay? So basically he says, desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until something specific happens. Think about that. Think about all of those coaches and thought leaders out there that focus so much on your desires and your goals and your vision. Even, even vision, right? Or even affirmations. I now have a million dollars. Oh, I now have a million dollars. Feel the million dollars. Yeah. Your, your conscious mind, you're, you're trying so hard to convince yourself. You're trying so hard to lie to yourself about what's really happening. And this is why I always make fun of the law of attraction because There's so much to make fun of there. And it's not really even making fun. I think it's, I think it's dangerous. I think it's detrimental to so many people, to so many of you that you focus on this law of attraction stuff and you focus on desire and you focus so much on, on achieving your desires that you don't realize what's happening is your subconscious system, the whole, the underlying system of your life is unhappiness because you are not there yet. So what do we do instead? Well, what I've sort of integrated within myself over years now is this respect for systems more than goals, for process more than the destination. Okay? And the fact is, if you actually also focus on the system, and maybe you already are, and this is wonderful, but if you focus on your system today, okay, on the process of whatever you're doing, you are actually present with what you're doing, and you're more likely to bring your your joy in, you're more likely to bring your wisdom that is integrated with the present moment. And if you bring your present moment mindfulness and your joy and your diligence and your grace and your faith and whatever it is that you can bring that's meaningful to you into this moment of work, into the task in front of you, into the system that you are dedicated to today, then it turns out that the results are even more likely to happen compared to somebody who is saying affirmations about their future desire, or the desire for a future life. All right. So there is a wonderful passage from a book that I want to read out to you. And this book is called The Practicing Mind, and it's one of those books that helped me to integrate this idea into my way of thinking. And it's called The Practicing Mind, and here is the passage from the book. I once read an interview with a coach for the US Olympic archery team. He commented that the biggest problem he faced in coaching the American team was that they were so fixated on their scores, the results of their shots— archery here. It was as if they were drawing the bow and releasing the arrow only to hit the bullseye and earn a good score. That was their, that was their mindset. This was in contrast to the Asian teams who, having grown up within a different culture, were consumed in the process of properly executing the technique that led up to releasing the shot. Where the arrow hit the target was almost unimportant compared to the motion of drawing the bow correctly and releasing the shot. They viewed the result with almost detached indifference. For them, the desired goal was a natural result of prioritizing the proper technique of drawing the bow. They operated in a completely different paradigm, and because of it, they were very difficult to beat. The minds of the Asian archers were quiet, uncomplicated, and free from mental turmoil. The irony was that when compared to the results-oriented Americans, the Asians were the ones who were winning. Now, U.S. sports psychologists are teaching our athletes to think along similar lines. Well, I grew up in America, so I really consider myself more an American than an Asian. So I grew up also with a fixation on test scores and on, you know, awards and on, you know, how popular people were and how popular I was. It was always about appearance and about, you know, the results especially as our family immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. So as an immigrant family, we were even more focused on results. Ah, you got to get good grades. You got to go to a good school. You got to try out for these teams. You got to get these awards. So it was very results-focused for most of my upbringing. And it really wasn't until the last, I would say, 10, 15 years. I think it probably started with the book Getting Things Done. Getting Things Done by David Allen. And then we kind of went from there. And then I read a passage from Bhagavad Gita, which says, the fruits of your labor is not something you can determine. All you can determine is bringing your presence to the labor itself. And that's really the supreme goal. And so Bhagavad Gita, I already had this idea thousands of years ago. And now, of course, the modern books are repeating the same thing except in a more contemporary way. So I am also repeating the same thing except in my own way, which is that if you focus on the results— oh, I got to get a bestselling book, I have to make $10,000, I have to lose 10 pounds, or whatever it is— Okay, that's actually an okay first step. I'll give you that. Focusing on results or starting with the end in mind as Stephen Covey from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People has made popular, starting with the end in mind. Okay, all right, you start there, it's okay. I want to make $10,000. I want to have this many followers. I want to live this kind of life. You envision that, that's good. Now, but this next thing is not to then affirm and like, oh, I'm going to have $10,000 now. I have $10,000. No, that's not the next step. Okay. That's not the system, the process, the daily process. After you envision what you want, then you create a system that is more likely to get you there. So if you want to make $10,000, what is the system? Well, I give you the 7 Disciplines of Authentic Business. Google it, 7 Disciplines of Authentic Business, George Kao. That's my system for you for how to reach $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 a month, whatever you want to make. It's up to you, or $5,000 a month, whatever you want to make. Doing an authentic business, the 7 Disciplines is my system for getting to wherever you want to go. So Google it, Seven Disciplines of Authentic Business. You can stop watching this now, go to Google, Seven Disciplines of Authentic Business. You might have to type my name in, George Kao, and it'll, it'll pop up. So know what the end goal is. Fine. Then you have a— you design a system that makes it more likely for you to reach the goal. And then every day, you don't have to do affirmations, okay? You don't have to think about the goal all the time. No, no, that's not healthy because you're always, every time you think about the goal, you're saying, I'm not there. Instead, every day you revere the system itself. You respect and you follow with diligence, with joy, with, with love, with grace, with faith, the system itself. Now, as you follow the system, you customize it. I don't worship the system in a way that it never changes. I revere the system. I revere systems thinking. That's what I revere. That's what I worship is systems thinking. The fact that everything is connected, the fact that our actions lead to, our actions are causes that lead to effects. That's what I worship, right? But then I change the system as I do it. As I, as I, as I apply the 7 Disciplines of Authentic Business, I may say, oh, I want to do it this way because it fits me better. And I welcome you to do the same thing, okay? Change the system as you go, customize it for yourself. And that is what you focus on every day. It's the system, the system, the system, the system. And occasionally you look at Okay, is the system leading me in the right direction? You, you, you reflect yourself or you ask your peers or you work with a coach or whatever. Is the system leading me in the right direction? Okay. And for that, I have another blog post for you. It's called the 10 Metrics of Authentic Business. You can Google that, 10 Metrics of Authentic Business, George Kao, and it'll come up. And that's how you measure yourself, whether you're going in the right direction. But every day, You just ask, you ask yourself every day, did I follow the system today? Did I do what the system asked me to do today? And did I bring my higher self into the doing of it? Because here's the final thing. And I'll end the video with this. Once you step one, know what you want. Okay. And step two, design a system. That gets you there. Step 3, I guess step 3 is to customize the system ongoingly for yourself. But, but, but, but I know, I'm sorry, step 3, step 3 is actually to realize, no, I'm sorry. Okay, step 3, customize the system. Fine. Step 4, every day as you work the system, okay, every day as you work the system, you realize that the actual bigger and deeper goal of it all, more than making $10,000 a month or whatever it is you want to make, more than getting this many followers, more than becoming famous and whatever, more important than any of that is your— the system is helping you grow in your abilities and in your character. The system is where you bring your values every day. And as you implement your— as you embody your values in working the system day to day, you grow to become a better person. And that actually is really why we're all doing this. That's really why you're here. You're not here to make the $10,000 a month. That's just— that's in the earthly— that's in the greater scheme of things, that's nothing. In the scheme of your soul, eternity, that's, that's, that's a, that's a joke. That's child's play in the scheme of eternity and your soul. It's really, did you grow in more love today as you work the system? Did you grow it with more patience? Did you find more faith in a higher power and in yourself? That is really why we're doing this. And you get to meet and reach that goal every day of working the system is, are you growing? So I hope this is helpful to shift the perspective of, from goals, fixation on affirmations, to a reverence for the system and for the deeper goal of growing yourself. So thanks for those of you who are joining me here, Brian, and Ida and Captain, Matea, Susan, thanks all for joining. And Ida actually found the blog post, so thank you, on the metrics. And let's see here, Captain says, "Can you talk more about what you mean by focus on the process instead of the goal?" So hopefully I've covered that. Are you saying that there should be no goals? Well, thanks for asking that, I didn't see that earlier, but hopefully I've covered that. In this video. So go forward today and look at your system. All right, I wish you well, and until the next video, I wish you grace and joy as you follow your system. Take care.