When I first meet people, they tend to comment on how disciplined I must be to make time for the gym everyday or be able to stick with a certain diet, but I am here to tell you it has nothing to do with discipline. It comes down to loving what you do. Most people talk about goal setting, but I call bullshit. You don’t need better goals, you need a better system.

We set goals to be someone we’re not, when we should really be setting up systems to become the person we desire. If you want to lose weight, I’m sure you don’t want to gain it back, but that is exactly what happens the majority of the time. WHY? Because you do not love what you’re doing. For example, you set a goal to lose 20lbs, and in the process you sweat and sacrifice everything the larger version of yourself enjoyed to achieve your goal weight, but after a while the weight starts to add up again. Next thing you know, you’re right where you started again. WHY? Because you hated what you had to do to get there.

Goals suck!

Goals are only beneficial for setting an end point of the person you wish to become, and not some arbitrary number. The better choice is to establish a system that allows you to become that 20lbs lighter version of yourself.

WTF does that mean?

Think of is as a GPS. Let your goal become your destination — to lose 20lbs. Allow the system to take you there — thinking, acting, create habits as that 20lbs lighter version of yourself would — so that when you arrive, you are a new person, not one who airdropped in (through sacrifice) and has no idea how to navigate this new lifestyle. 

Becoming a new version of yourself, be it weight loss or muscle gain, isn’t about discipline, it's about thinking like that new version of yourself would, and implementing the necessary changes overtime to get there. These necessary changes produce positive results, and reinforce the behavior. Yes, there is a chance it may take slightly longer to lose those 20lbs, but because you are creating new habits, you are much more likely to keep them, and less likely to fall back into old habits. 

So when faced with a decision, always ask how your future self would act.