I have been re-reading How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. He has been advocating about the idea of building systems instead of goals for sometime. This idea resonates well with me. Here are some great quotes about this topic from the book:
“A goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don’t sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run.”
“Goals are for losers. That’s literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose ten pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal—if you reach it at all—feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary. That feeling wears on you. In time, it becomes heavy and uncomfortable. It might even drive you out of the game.”
“Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do.“
In a broader context, it is good to have vision about what direction you want to go and build systems to make sure you move in that direction.