Restaurateurs,
The only way to ultimate success is to get better each day. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your SYSTEM instead.
Are goals completely useless? Of course not. Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.
Problem #1: Winners and losers have the same goals.
We all know prime costs shouldn’t exceed 60%, every restaurant has a revenue goal, etc…
In the end, many restaurants are struggling to attract enough guests, carve out a niche, and have low profitability (1-3%), then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers.
Problem #2: Achieving a goal is only a momentary change.
Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment if what you end up with is temporary.
Problem #3: Goals restrict your happiness.
The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone.
Problem #4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress.
When all of your hard work is focused on a particular goal, what is left to push you forward after you achieve it?
✅ Solution #1: Only when we implement a system of continuous small improvements can we achieve a different outcome.
✅Solution #2: We need to change the systems that cause those results. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level.
✅Solution #3: A systems-first mentality provides the antidote. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy.
✅Solution #4: True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement.
I utilized the article titled “Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead“, written by the New York Times Best Seller Author James Clear, in this post, and it applies perfectly to restaurants.
