Site Visitations are Up
It’s no secret that my Twitter brand has boomed this year.
Though I’m sure we’re all happy about it, no one could be more pleased than myself.
But, for the first few months of this Renaissance, that success did not translate to my blog (this website you’re reading right now, if you can believe it).
What Changed?
Well, I’m not sure exactly, except to say that in the past month or so, blog traffic has been booming. A few normally shy readers have even been so bold as to leave comments.
Some of it is no doubt to my recent streak of retweeting old blog posts. Except it hasn’t been a streak because I haven’t been consistent about it.
Oops.
But there is one other factor we should consider.
Taking a Systems-based Approach
For much of my life, I was taught to seek achievement through a goals-based approach. You set a goal, you chart all the milestones you need to reach that goal, and then you hopefully achieve it.
The point is to dedicate yourself to the end product. I imagine most people reading this were raised much the same way. It’s the basis for most modern education systems, after all. They have you striving toward a definite goal—a grade, or graduation—which will prove your merit.
But in recent years, I have learned about another approach to accomplishment. It is practiced, interestingly enough, by many notable and powerful people. Disruptors of industry, tech titans, and famous authors.
They take what is called a “systems” approach. Under this paradigm, it is not necessary to focus on which final result you want, or even to define that result sharply.
Instead, you focus on maximizing the effectiveness of your day to day operations. To simplify the distinction, let’s use weight lifting as an example: a goals-oriented weightlifter will perhaps set a goal to deadlift 200 pounds by the end of the year. But a systems-oriented weightlifter will merely try to do more reps or increase the weight from one week to the next, not caring what number he’s working toward, as long as he’s getting slightly better each week.
Interestingly enough, the systems-based approach often yields better overall results than the goals-oriented approach, even though “overall results” is not the point of the systems paradigm.
Systems and This Blog
Throughout this year, I’ve slowly transitioned from a goals-based approach to a systems-oriented one when it comes to my online presence. I’ve been focusing on daily exercises and daily growth, rather than requiring myself to hit a specific milestones by a specific date.
The outcome has been encouraging. I simply try to spread my reach a little further than it is right now, day after day.
In order to sustain this, however, the effort must be constant. It has to be a daily practice. And when it is, my influence flourishes.
I can’t promise this effort will take me where I want to be, but it’s hard to be discouraged when I’m exhibiting consistent expansion.
I highly recommend this approach to anyone who feels like their current efforts are failing them.
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