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Using systems and habits to improve your life is a proven method to succeed. It requires seeing the work as a system and then adjusting your thoughts and behaviors to be able to take advantage of your opportunities in life.
Following the systems and habits improvement techniques often means starting with very small steps. Some people see this as pointless. They assume that we should ‘go big or go home.’
But there is good reasoning behind starting small. Starting small makes it much easier to keep going and not get discouraged and quit. Why would you quit if it were really easy?
Read MoreRecently I was in a meeting at work discussing a problem that we were facing. We were notified of a change that would have a pretty major impact on how we operate the business.
As we thought through various options we soon realized that we really just had a bunch of bad options. There wasn’t a great option that jumped out us. We were presented with about three or four ways to respond, all with their own consequences and not much benefit.
Read MoreIn thinking systematically about life, we often come across a common pattern where something just seems to build and build. We call this a reinforcing feedback loop.
Reinforcing feedback loops are everywhere. They can be very subtle or incredibly powerful.
Read MoreWhen you start on your path of improvement using the systems and habits approach, you will likely be torn at times between trying to keep going and wondering if you are doing enough.
Because the focus is on building habits, how much we do is less important than the fact that we keep going long enough for it to start to become more automatic. But the perfectionist inside us probably screams that we aren’t doing enough.
Read MoreYears ago I was involved in the purchase and start-up of a new franchise location for a business. It was an exciting experience and one I learned a great deal from.
One thing that I heard constantly during this time was to “follow the system.” Being somewhat of a systems fanatic it was refreshing to hear such a focus on the system.
Read MoreWhen I start an improvement program for some aspect of my life I have noticed that my expectations of the results and the way the results actually come are often quite different.
Most of us set goals based on the outcome we hope to see. Even if we set process goals instead of outcome goals to help us do the things necessary, we still have expectations of when we will see results.
Read MoreUtilizing habits in our lives to improve and focusing on the systems around us can be a great way to move through life. With habits and systems, the focus is on slow, continuous improvement.
While this is a great way to improve your own life, this thinking has been around in businesses for years. Continuous improvement methods vary but they all have at their core the idea that it will take a lot of time so start slowly making things better now.
Read MoreMany of us don’t see the full impact the habits in our life have on our wellbeing. We know habits play a role in our life but most people assume this role is limited to a few bad habits and automatic routines like driving to work.
These are certainly habits, but our habits are actually much deeper and more ingrained in our lives. Habits determine much more than deciding if we bite our nails. They determine who we are and how happy we are.
Read MoreThe systems and habits approach to improvement focuses on making small steps towards improvement. It looks at time as something to leverage so it takes the slow road forward and doesn’t expect instant results.
This means that there will be times when things are difficult and times when things are easy. There will be times where we see great results and times when the results don’t come. We will have times when it just seems to flow and times when everything feels like a struggle.
Read MoreThe other day I started reading a new book, Start Here, Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing. I saw this book at the library and started reading it, not expecting to gain too much insight from it.
As I read the early chapters, I came across a section that blew me away. It referenced the Tao Te Ching and talked about many themes of happiness and wellness that I have explored, but did so in an amazingly straightforward and insightful way. Suddenly a lot of different areas of exploration in my personal wellness journey came together in a new, yet familiar way.
Read MoreWe all worry at times. Sometimes we worry that our job is at risk and sometimes we worry that a new illness is something more than a cold.
While everyone has moments of worry, some people worry more than others. I used to worry about everything and it consumed my life. At the time it felt like this was something I had no control over and just had to cope with.
Read MoreI’ve often heard the advice to live life as if today was your last day. I’ve never liked this advice and recently when I heard it, I realized just how much this advice could lead to poor decisions.
When I was younger my philosophy on life was quite different. I drank and partied a bit much so if I were told I would die the next day I would probably choose to live that day partying and having fun. I would ignore any consequences to my actions and give in to any temptations that surface.
Read MoreSystems thinking is a concept that has been around for decades. Even prior to the official systems thinking experts, you see signs of systems thinking throughout history.
Systems thinking is the ability to think about a whole situation and all of the interconnecting parts rather than just seeing a small snapshot of the full system.
Read MoreFollowing the systems and habits approach to improve some aspect of your life you will certainly come up against times when you want to keep going but the discomfort around that builds and builds.
When we try to change ingrained habits we can put the odds on our side by starting small, focusing on progress over perfection and being flexible. But there will still be times when it is very difficult to keep going.
Read MoreMany people hear me discuss the systems and habits approach to improvement and think that must mean a very rigid, disciplined approach. But that is not correct. In reality the systems and habits approach is incredibly flexible.
Flexibility is important. When software engineers started to realize the traditional, structured approach to project management led to failure, they came up with Agile Project Management. They learned that by having small iterations it doesn’t lock you in like a complex project plan does.
Read MoreThere are a lot of books that talk about identifying your values and then clarifying them so that you can live your life on purpose. The idea is that, if we only know for certain what we believe, we can then live out our life with the purpose and meaning we all crave.
They claim the remedy to an unfulfilled life is simply a better understanding of what you want in life. Find this and everything else will follow.
Read MoreMost of us know what we should do in most situations. But our behaviors often follow something else.
We go out with friends instead of preparing for the report that is due. We smoke, eat junk food, and watch too much TV, when we know those things are not good for us.
Read MoreEveryone is different. We all have varying experiences and beliefs that make us who we are. We are each unique and add value in our own way.
But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t common patterns. In fact, many of us probably see recurring behaviors by different people and see the similarity in each person’s approach.
Read MoreThe systems and habits approach to improvement relies on very small steps. We find small improvements that we can do and then we do them over and over again.
By doing this we start to slowly build new positive habits. We think through these changes to make sure they help us get where we want to go. Without this approach the habits form by default by whatever our recurring decisions happen to be.
Read MorePlenty of people set goals. We want more money, a bigger house, a better job or more time off. The focus is to gain something or achieve some specific result.
We don’t fully grasp the actions and behaviors that we will have to change in order to gain the reward that we envision. This causes us to overlook crucial elements to reaching this goal.
Read More