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“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”
Seneca
A few months ago, I was reading Maurice Ashley’s Move by Move.
On March 14, 1999, Maurice became the first Black player to earn the grandmaster title.
He got there by working backward. The title required three tournament norms and a 2500 rating. Aiming at that target told him which tournaments to enter and what to study each day.
A goal needs a system to reach it. A system needs a goal to give it direction.
So I hate to hear “systems beat goals.”
Bill Walsh titled his book The Score Takes Care of Itself, but his system was in service of the score.
When he took over the San Francisco 49ers in 1979, his first season ended with 2 wins and 14 losses.
- He started writing out the first plays of each game before kickoff, a list that grew to 15. Nobody had to pick them under pressure.
- Each practice ran on a written schedule, with each drill given its minutes.
- Even the receptionists got instructions on how to answer the phone.
Walsh wrote that he focused on “the process of improving.” But he checked that process against winning: when the wins didn’t come, he raised the standard. Within three seasons, the 49ers won the Super Bowl.
Without a goal, daily effort has no direction. Habits serve goals.
Decide what you want first, then work backward to the habits that make it inevitable.
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What habits do you need to reach your most important goal?
