💡 Quote I'm pondering

“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems” - James Clear

When I first saw this quote some years ago, it completed changed the “direction of travel” that I perceived progress to be taking.

We all want our lives to be better. We often see that improvements as us growing upwards, climbing higher, rising through the ranks. I know I did.

However, experience has shown me that that isn’t really how progress works. Sustainable progress doesn’t come from growing upwards as much as it does from us stopping ourselves from falling so far down.

For example:

• We could see ourselves as raising prices, or we could see the same situation as no longer accepting prices that are below our worth. This shifts the emphasis from ambitious aspiration to systems for sustainable self-respect.

  
  

• We could see it as pushing ourselves to go to the gym, or we could see it as no longer neglecting our health. Goodbye burdensome obligation, hello foundational standard.

  
  

I could go on.

The assertion that we need to climb higher is based on the assumption that we are at the bottom. But we all have value to share, we are all already worth something.

The direction of progress isn’t down→up, it is up→down.

We can shift away from conditional self-worth (where worth is tied to achievement) toward a more grounded belief in inherent value.

Motivation is temporary. Constantly rising up to new goals is unsustainable. It is easier and more productive to stop the fall. Real growth comes from building systems that steadily increase your minimum standards.

I’d like to push James Clear’s quote a step further - you don’t just fall to the level of your systems, you fall to the level of your self-concept.

Your systems help define your self-concept, just as your self-concept helps define your systems.

You can have the habits, the boundaries, the planner, the automation - and still procrastinate, self-doubt, or burn it all down.

Because systems don’t solve for identity wounds, shame, or unprocessed fear.

• The part that doesn’t believe we’re worthy of ease.

• The part that fears success because it would isolate us.

• The part that’s addicted to struggle because it’s familiar.

• The part that quietly wants to fail so we can stop trying.

  
  

An influencer who sells you a cookie-cutter system isn’t going to solve your problem.

That is only one half of the solution. Business is all-encompassing, it requires a holistic approach that takes all of you into account. Work with people who understand both sides and that can see the bigger picture with you.

This point came from my newsletter Work Smart Wednesday, if you would like to read the other related points I made in that email you can find it here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-july-2-2025

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