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My 2017 New Year's Resolution: Cultivating Systems over Goals

2016 was a fantastic year for me. I started my blogs, entered the next phase in my career as a business architect, and welcomed a beautiful baby girl into my life. I look forward to 2017, and like most people, I am setting my own version of a New Year's resolution.

As my regular readers know, my recent focus has been on the works of Scott Adams, and we've covered Trump's hypnotic techniques and the power of affirmations in former posts. Finishing out this trifecta of posts, I want to cover one final piece that correlates well to my 2017 New Year's resolution: cultivating systems over goals.

What this means is that I'm going to focus on things that make me better overall that don't necessarily have a measurable end. This is a little different from what I've done in the past. I've set goals like losing 100 pounds, getting my Master's degree, and getting certifications like my PMP. Don't get me wrong, these are noble goals for anybody, but they all end. For me, they've always ended with this same question of, "Well... now what?"

Scott Adams is a big advocate for systems over goals, even going as far to say that dumb people set goals and smart people create systems. I'm not sure I fully agree with that, but given that I've hit a wall on goals with measurable ends, I want to spend 2017 creating various systems. Specifically, I want to focus on the stuff below.

Maintaining a healthy diet. I lost 100 pounds and admittedly didn't do so in the most healthy way. I ramped up the exercise and starved myself pretty frequently. (Heck, I even passed out right in my desk chair at work one day this year.) My honest problem is that I have struggled recently to maintain my diet and have sought to counteract this by working out a lot. My knee has taken quite the beating from this, so I really need to get my diet in check to keep my weight down and keeping my body healthy.

Continue to informally educate myself for the purpose of creating a continuous flow of blog content. Admittedly, one of the things that freaks me out the most is that I will lose new ideas to speak of on this blog. Fortunately, I have not had this problem only because I have kept up on educating myself constantly. This is definitely something I want to continue, both for my benefit and for your benefit, but this will become a little more difficult, hence the following system...

Be a good husband and a good dad. This week, I was blessed to become a dad to a beautiful little girl. Everything they say is true: babies are a sleep wrecker. Don't get me wrong, this little sweetie has melted this daddy's heart, but my body has taken a huge toll. Family is definitely a priority in my life, so this is something I will definitely want to cultivate specifically in 2017 and throughout the rest of my life.

Those are the big things I'm going to focus on. Of course, there are other smaller things I have in mind, too. What do you plan on focusing on in 2017? Hope you all have a great New Year!
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