We all have plans. Hopes. Dreams. Things we want, and hope to do. There is no shortage of information about how to do the things you desire, from building your own drone to teaching your cat to do the Macarena. But what many people lack is one essential element, without which you will fail, and fail hard. Without which you will look back at the golden opportunity of your life with bitter regret. What you need is not more motivation or inspiration. What you think I am about to say is that you have to get in the habit of doing the things you need. But no: It is hard as hell to have good habits without good systems. You know this is true because almost no one does it. What you need, even more important than internal motivation, is this: A system that almost works itself. A setup where you almost have to do the work, where it is almost easier to do the work than not.
If you want to cut down on junk food but keep buying it, you will fail. If you really want to eat less crap, you have to not have it in the house to begin with. If you want to watch less TV, then get rid of the expensive cable package. If you want to build your website, Macarenakittens.com, you will have to have a place where you can work on that, and can basically only do that. Things you have a system for you will do. Things you do not have a system for you will not do. I noticed that I had systems in place for unproductive and destructive things but did not have them in place to do the things I said I wanted. I forget to do things so I need a calendar. I get bogged down in details so I need whiteboards. I get distracted so I need an itinerary every day. If the plan is for me to remember to do it and pull it together at the last minute, the real plan is for me to fuck it up. Your hangups may be different from mine but you have them. What this is about is not how to overcome your issues but how to make them irrelevant. Set up a system. There is a saying in scuba — plan the dive and dive the plan. Meaning to make your plans when you aren’t distracted, stressed, cold, fearful, or multitasking taking that photo of the reef while calculating the right bullshit that will enable you to hook up with your dive partner (Should I be vegan? That’s still cool, right? Worked with orphans in India . . . a little trite but hits the right notes. Wait, is it too late to pretend to be French?). You set it up so when you are in the water you follow the steps you have laid out in advance.
The people who have done hard things have usually set it up to where they mostly have to just keep showing up. If you get into medical school and keep doing what they tell you, you will come out the other end a doctor. If you keep taking lessons and don’t kill anyone you will become a pilot. Every successful writer has one thing in common: An awesome cottage in the woods where they can draw inspiration from the bubbling spring. Oh, wait — they don’t really, you just tell yourself that. What they actually have is a place where they work, even if that place is the corner table in the coffee shop. A time set aside every day to work. And the showupitude to keep clocking in and hitting it. That’s how these essays have gotten written: I finally have a system for writing. I drink coffee, eat KitKats, and listen to The Who while typing furiously, never knowing what will come of it but continuing to show up at the keyboard for hours of hard labor. You have to have the system you need to do your work. What that is is for you to work out for yourself but if you don’t have one, the distractions of life will take you far from the path and you will never find your way back. Face that grim fact now and set up the habits and more importantly, systems you need to get your work done.