The dilemma
The debate rages on: is it better to focus on goals (outcomes) or processes/systems (habits)?
Some argue the pursuit of goals is ultimately meaningless: once achieved, the feeling of accomplishment is fleeting; and then it's on to the next thing.
However, achievement of outcomes seem to be the way the world is wired - your customer or your boss is usually mostly interested in "did you get it done, on time, to spec, on budget?"
Others argue that "the journey is the reward" - for lasting success and happiness, we need to groove-in consistent completion of routines and habits. As Woody Allen said "80% of success is showing up".
Indeed, there is compelling evidence that the compounding efforts of a habit (especially if conducted thoughtfully, like Anders Ericsson's "deliberate practice") can be transformative to performance over time.
So, what do you do?
Well, with ExcellGrowth it's not "either/or" it's "yes, and" - you can have them both! And even better, you can explicitly link habits with goals.
An example
Let's just say you are developing an app.
You'll probably have a sequence of goals along the lines of:
Define the idea (who's it for, what problem does it solve)
Develop sketches of the idea (e.g. app screens)
Test the sketches with potential users
Develop a minimum viable product and test that
Code up v1 and do beta testing
Finalise & submit to App Store(s)
Run launch campaign
You'll also have supporting habits - specific ones like:
Practice coding
Practice digital asset creation
Practice using Generative AI
And probably more general (but still powerful and relevant) "keystone" habits like:
Sleep
Nutrition
Exercise
Mindfulness
Some of these more general habits could also be linked to enable other goals.
So, when you're tracking progress, and if you have an issue with achieving a goal, looking at how the linked habits are going is a useful line of enquiry.
Achieving a goal or embedding a habit can be "hard change", so don't bite off more than you can chew: we recommend no more than 5 active goals and 5 active habits at a time. When you're done, Archive them and move the next ones up from Pending.