The Key to Consistent Success

Hey TDG Family & Good Morning! 💪

Table of Contents

• Must Watch Video💡

• Parker’s Breakdown: Systems over goals 🔑

• The Study 📖

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Must Watch Video💡

Goals Versus Systems | James Clear

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." - James Clear

Goals are great and all, but to really establish a habit in your life, you must set strong habits. In this weeks video, James Clear discusses habit setting and focusing on systems instead of goals. Here are a couple of the main points. 👇👇

• Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits you follow.

• Goals are not completely useless though. They are good for direction and filtering

• Focus on setting identity based habits, not goals

Parker’s Breakdown: Systems over goals 🔑

When it comes to achieving success, the focus shouldn’t be solely on setting lofty goals but rather on creating effective systems to support consistent progress. As James Clear’s famous quote from Atomic Habits suggests, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This means that while goals give direction, it’s the daily habits and processes that ultimately lead to success.

Take the example of losing 20 pounds. Instead of fixating on the end result, shift your energy toward building a sustainable system. Prepare your gym bag every night so you can head straight to the gym after work. Plan your meals and workouts in your agenda the night before to ensure you don’t skip a session due to time constraints. Meal prep on Sunday for the entire week, so you don’t have to think about food choices—just heat and eat.

This approach makes success easier because you only have to focus on winning today, not focusing on a goal that is 6 months away. Achieving small, actionable steps daily compounds over time, allowing you to hit your long-term goal naturally. By committing to a system, the results will follow.

The Study 📖

The Power and Pitfalls of Education Incentives

The 2011 Harvard study aimed to evaluate how financial incentives could improve student achievement in urban schools across five U.S. cities. The researchers conducted field experiments in over 250 schools, offering rewards to students and teachers for specific academic behaviors and results. These incentives targeted inputs—actions like reading books, completing homework, or attending school—rather than outputs such as test scores or grades. The goal was to determine which types of incentives were most effective at enhancing student performance.

Key Findings:

• Input-based incentives (e.g., doing homework, reading books) produced modest but consistent improvements in student achievement.

• Output-based incentives (e.g., rewards for test scores) were less effective than input-based incentives.

• Rewarding behaviors directly related to learning processes proved more beneficial than focusing on end results.

• Incentive programs led to better returns on investment when they encouraged daily habits and consistent academic engagement.