Words I constantly saw on YouTube title during the New Year: goals, habits, system, and theme.
This post is to interpret their differences.
Goals
The milestone we look to achieve, such as loosing 5kg, running sub-60 10K, summer vacation to Thailand.
The key to execution is to be as clear as possible. Instead of “Summer vacation to Thailand”, write “One week of vacation in Bangkok, Thailand”.
System or habit
The execution, the steps to move toward the goals.
- Loosing 5kg: calculating the calorie, sign up for the gym.
- One week of vacation in Bangkok: ask LLM to estimate the budget and plan, save $3,000 each month, buy plane ticket once it reaches $10,000.
The key to execution is to automate and remove the distraction.
- If it has to do with money, put it on the to-do list on every paycheck day or setup transfer automatically.
- Create check points
- If it has to do with money, then give the milestone a clear amount.
- If it is an ongoing timeline, then setup reminder every 30 or 90-days.
Theme
The focus, to make sure the goal or goals create synergy and not do too much.
Try to get promoted at work and taking 3 family trips probably won’t work well together.