Too busy to read?

we must not seek to optimize every resource in the system," says Jonah. "A system of local optimums is not an optimum system at all; it is a very inefficient system."

He never finishes his pyramid promised to Pharaoh simply because he decides to do the heavy lifting himself when he should have focused on a system to do it for him.

An apt adage is Don't kick a hornet's nest, meaning don't disturb something that is going to create a lot more trouble than it is worth. With all these traps--Goodhart's law, along with the cobra, hydra, and Streisand effects--if you are going to think about changing a system or situation, you must account for and quickly react to the clever ways people may respond. There will often be individuals who try to game the system or otherwise subvert what you're trying to do for their personal gain or amusement.

The first flaw is perspective. We have a hard time seeing any system that we are in.

For our purposes, let's say a goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don't sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it's a system. If you're waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it's a goal.