Building a system over reaching a goal

Lights out Alice!

I was recently listening to Ryan Holiday's podcast featuring James Clear of Atomic Habits' fame, wherein they mentioned a key change in outlook that I want to inculcate, which is the focus and unrelenting approach to building systems and not approaching anything as a one time effort. 

Thoughts in bullets:

• Consistency is key
• Everything worthwhile takes time and effort and needs to be developed if it is to stay
• Putting in the time in becoming the person you envision yourself before you get there, not just if or when you get there
• Building a system will ensure repeatability
• Doing hard things will train your body to be able to stretch itself and not atrophy
• You cannot be hung up on past laurels. What you have already achieved is gone now and people are catching up and overtaking and if you do not keep putting in the time and the due diligence then soon enough you would be left standing with nothing other than words
• The effort you put in is the reward. The systems focused approach means that you want to build a pathway and building that pathway is what excites you, not because it is interesting, but because you NEED to do it to get where you want to be. 
• "The height of the joy you feel is tied to the depth of your sorrow"
• Accountability is key, not just to others, but to yourself. You need to be able to look at yourself in the eye and believe in the effort you have put in. Obviously there will be times where the effort will give unfairly low returns and there will be times when you will be treated as the maestro for something you haven't put any effort at all in. Remember to be gracious in defeat and humble in victories. 
• Don't let anything get to your head. Nobody has the complete picture of who you are or what you have been through or what your demons are. Do not let the person demeaning you inside your head for they might not know the effort you have put in regardless of the work not being up to the mark. IMMEDIATELY DISMISS the word of the person praising you for anything, be it a job well done or some attribute or quality you might possess. Again, they do not know you and might not have the complete picture of what you are. Further, everyone has an agenda, whether they know it or not. All the more, their POVs can be fed by their understanding of the world which is completely their perspective and not reflective of broader societal narrative or too much in line with the broader societal narrative without due regard to the moral spectrum of things.