What we make also makes us

Happy New Year, Friends

By now, the flurry of resolutions we each begin the year with may have taken root. Or perhaps they've stayed on the pages of a journal that hasn’t been picked up for weeks?

Regardless of whether you are a ‘new year, new me’ kind of thinker, or take a more fluid approach to growth, this time of year still invites us to consider more deeply what we want to achieve, and how we want to show up to work and life. Goals and resolutions are the obvious output of our reflections and hopes.

“I want to play the piano.”

“I want to go under 3 hours in a marathon.”

“I want to be lucid and present when I am with my family.”

“I want to hike the mountains and valleys of Patagonia.”

“I want to write a book others want to read.”

Our aspirations are often easy enough to identify.

More recently, though, I’ve been thinking more about the practices and processes that accompany our goals so they might become the natural, obvious and likely outcomes of our efforts.

I am reminded of the idea that “we have each created the ideal system for the results we are getting.” Truth be told, I am not sure it is true—there are things outside our control, and for many, systems are stacked against them. But in the context of growth, it sure is provocative enough to jolt us toward greater personal responsibility for how our behaviours are driving our outcomes.

Goethe once said, “Everyone holds their fortune in their own hands, like a sculptor, the raw material they will fashion into a figure. But for artistic activity, as with all others; we are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.”

If Goethe were writing for HBR today, he might more succinctly say that we do not rise to the level of our aspirations, but instead to the level of our practices.

And so, our nudge as humans is to envision the year ahead and the great feats and accomplishments we aspire to—but in equal measure, to plan the systems and daily practices that will make them inevitable. In doing so, the goal becomes far less about achievement itself, and more about becoming the person capable of the achievement.

What we each achieve is the overflow and natural by-product of who become.

Perhaps then, the conversation must shift from “What do you want to accomplish this year?” to “Who do you wish to become?”

If your goal is to double top-line revenue, ask: “What should I better understand about my business—and myself—to make this inevitable? How would I manage my time for this to become the natural course of events? Whose counsel might I seek out?”

If your goal is to be more present for your family, ask: “What systems and daily rituals would lead to me being cantered, generous with my time, and capable of putting work aside when I’m with my children and partner? What fears hold me back from being more present, and how can I understand and overcome them?”

If your aspiration is focus and high performance, ask: “How holistically can I consider this goal? What aspects of my current practices prevent them? What habits might I adopt immediately?”

Our goals, of course, are important. But growing to become the person who can accomplish that goal is truly something to aspire to.

So, as we each move further into the year, know that I am in your corner, cheering you on every step of the way. Here’s to all that we will accomplish this year, and to the people we will become to make that possible.

DS