“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
-James Clear
Tired, hungry, busy, frustrated, excited, ambitious, edgy, motivated. The spinning wheel of emotions is a normal day for me. Hell, I can hit 75% of these in an hour sometimes. So what happens to best intentions as my internal states fluctuates?
I drop the ball.
If you are anything like me you have 3 versions of yourself. Meet past Anthony, current Anthony, and future Anthony. Past Anthony has done some cool stuff and has helped us get to current Anthony but he messed up a lot. He set goals and hit some but whiffed on a lot of others. He got tired, lazy, and lost motivation at times.
Future Anthony is a down right super hero. This guy does not get tired. His will power is the stuff of legends. Tell him what to do and it’s done. On time. Every time. With a smile.
Current Anthony is a wild card. Some days he’s clear, confident, and lucid. Other days the motivation and willpower are as stable as a house of cards.
Current Anthony loves to punt to future Anthony. Tomorrow will be better because future Anthony is a stud. He will know what to do! But the next day future Anthony never shows up. It’s always current Anthony. And that guy can be the worst.
So how do we break this cycle? We create systems that allow a C+, hangry, tired current Anthony to succeed. We plan for a rainy day. We allow him to fall to the level of his systems. Motivation and the promise of tomorrow is exciting, but fleeting. A process built for sustainability is boring, but sustainable. Boring sustainable consistency compounds. In the moment these steps feel small but in the long game, they make for incredible levels of change.
Systems make past Anthony the super hero, current Anthony stable, and the story of future Anthony closer to non-fiction than fiction.
Build a system that allows you to succeed no matter who shows up today.
-Anthony
Dr. Anthony Iannarino 