I have been reading and listening to James Clear‘s book, Atomic Habits. In it he states that it’s better to focus on improving the system rather than reaching for a goal. A goal, while necessary from time to time, shouldn’t be the end-game. It’s just a marker on the road. E.g., if you’re a runner, you run regularly; you don’t just train for a marathon. If you do, once the marathon is over you had better have another marathon in the queue or you’re much more likely to stop running regularly.
This make a lot of sense to me as I’ve seen this exact behavior in my past for many years. I’ve studied for several different IT exams, only to stop my regular studying practice once I passed the exam or simply decided the certification I was going after wasn’t necessary.
By using a system I would be more focused on continued learning instead of focusing on a goal…an exam. “I am a continuous learner,” instead of “I am studying for exam xyz,” makes a lot more sense in the long run.
I’ve been getting up at 5:30am every morning for a while now to read and watch training videos in the IT field. Just in the last few months I feel like my general IT knowledge has skyrocketed because of this practice. It’s my quiet time to decide what I want to look into, and how deeply. If I’m studying for an exam, great! If not, what other information do I need to investigate or refresh?
Now if I could only put this in the context of keeping up with my writing, exercise, finances, and spiritual goals…baby steps.