Your Not Failing, You’re Just Rooting
Business Solutions“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear
I’ve always had goals. Big ones. Important ones. The kind of goals that make you feel like you’re on the edge of becoming who you were destined to be. But despite all that ambition… I rarely achieved them.
For years, I thought the problem was discipline. Or time. Or my tendency to bounce between hyperfocus and burnout. But then I read Atomic Habits by James Clear — and one line completely slapped me in the face:
“Winners and losers have the same goals.”
Whew.
Let’s unpack that.
If everyone has the same goals, then clearly the goal alone isn’t what makes the difference. It’s the system behind it. That’s when I realized I hadn’t been failing to reach my goals — I had failed to build the system that would carry me to them.
The Trap of “All or Nothing”
My mindset was set to extremes. I thought real work had to be done in long, uninterrupted blocks of time. If I didn’t have hours to create content or update my site, I figured, why bother at all?
But that meant days… weeks… years went by while I “waited” for the perfect time.
Meanwhile, I had websites sitting dormant, social media accounts collecting digital dust, and a mind full of brilliant ideas — with nowhere for them to go.
Then I read about The Plateau of Latent Potential — the idea that your small efforts may show no results at first because the results are stored, not wasted.
James Clear calls this stretch “The Valley of Disappointment.” And baby, I had built a house in that valley.
The Bamboo Wake-Up Call
Clear uses the example of bamboo: it builds a root system underground for five years before ever breaking the surface. Then it grows 90 feet in 6 weeks.
That analogy flipped everything for me.
Here I was, expecting skyscraper results from a few marathon workdays. But the truth is, real growth comes from consistent, daily habits — even if they seem small or invisible at first.
I realized if I had just committed to 30 minutes a day, I could’ve accumulated 3.5 hours a week. That’s 14 hours a month. 168 hours a year. And that’s not small. That’s a business. That’s a brand. That’s progress.
What I’m Doing Differently Now
stopped relying on goals. Now, I focus on systems:
I block out daily 30-minute work sessions and honor them
I use planning tools to visualize time (because ADHD and time blindness are real!)
I give myself credit for consistency, not perfection
I remind myself that 1% better every day beats zero progress every week
I’m no longer waiting for the “perfect” time. I’m building my bamboo roots. Because now I understand:
“Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.”
And that’s exactly what Consulting Karma is here to teach — how to build habits and systems that match your vision.
So if you’ve been stuck in that valley, wondering why your goals aren’t coming to life, ask yourself: Are you showing up? Or just planning to?