Goals and systems

 Perhaps one of the most powerful thoughts I've read this month comes from a book by James Clear who writes, "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." I've always been a big believer in setting goals, and they have helped me accomplish a lot of good things in my life, but the goals only give a person direction. The goals themselves do not accomplish anything. It's the systems we put in place that enable us to accomplish the goal.

For several years I had a goal of writing a book that year, and that goal was realized several times. However, it wasn't in the setting of the goal that enabled the book to be written; it was accomplished because I set systems in place that helped me write and publish the book. I committed a certain number of hours each day to the writing. I focused on doing the research that needed to happen for the book to have integrity. I was in contact with my publisher to keep me on track. Lots of things had to happen in order to have a system in place that would result in the book to be written and published. The goal gave me direction, but the system resulted in the end product.

This is true in all areas of our lives whether we are talking about our families, our careers, our businesses or our churches. Setting goals are important in every area of life, but without having good systems in place our goals will be nothing more than dreams.

As a denominational minister for 14 years I heard many churches tell me they wanted to grow, but when I looked at their systems it was obvious their systems would not lead them to grow. They would remain at a plateau at best and eventually begin to decline. They had no outreach system in place to reach new people outside their church. They had no discipleship system in place to help them grow their current members. They had no budgeting system that directed funds to outreach and growth. They had no youth ministry system in place that would retain and grow the number of youth in the church. They dreamed of growth, but that growth would not occur under their current systems. As I've told many church leaders, your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting. If you want different results you have to change your systems.

One of the problems in changing systems is the pushback that comes from those who prefer the current system. I've warned churches that if they change their current systems they might lose some of the people they have, and some of these churches have been honest enough to say they don't want that to happen so they keep their systems. They did not want to lose the relationships they had with these individuals in the hopes of reaching new people. I understand that thinking, especially when there are no promises of reaching new people. Furthermore, even if new people are reached, it will probably happen slowly tempting the church to revert back to their old systems that were more comfortable. If the church decided to revert back, that is their decision to make. They just need to be honest enough to admit that growth really isn't a high priority for them.

Set your goals to give yourself direction, but spend more time creating the systems that will help you achieve that goal. It is the systems you establish that will give you success in all your endeavors.