Achieving a balanced life with work, learning, health, and relationships is possible by shifting from relying on willpower to building robust, repeatable systems that proactively address potential obstacles.
How is someone meant to balance working
full-time with constantly learning and
upskilling while getting enough sleep
while exercising and taking care of your
health and then spending time with your
loved ones and then having free time for
hobbies? Is that even possible? Yes, it
is. But only if you think in systems.
I've spent over a decade coaching
thousands of professionals to learn
efficiently and succeed in their careers
while having enough time and freedom to
live life. And in my experience,
thinking in systems is the secret to
regaining control and freedom so that
you're not stuck on that hamster wheel
of constantly feeling busy while at the
same time not making progress on the
things that you really care about. So,
in this video, I'll explain what
thinking in systems actually means, and
I'll share with you some simple ways to
build systems for your own goals
utilizing the same principles I use when
I'm coaching clients. So, what does
thinking in systems
The point of thinking in systems is that
you reduce your reliance on thinking in
terms of willpower
and motivation. The aim is to reduce
your dependency on these two things. And
instead what we do is that we build processes
that automatically help us to achieve
the types of results that we're looking
for. And once you find the processes
that actually work, you then chain these
processes together and now you've got a
system. Most people don't think in
systems. Most people are operating in
terms of intentions and tasks. So
thinking I need to exercise today or I
need to get more sleep or I need to
finish that course. But when you're
busy, it is difficult to turn these
intentions into reality. Now if you're
more proactive, you go from these intentions
And then you turn these intentions into plans.
plans.
So for example, it's not just I need to
read more. It's I'm going to spend an
hour every evening to dedicate to
reading. And it's not just I need to
exercise more. It's okay when I get home
from work, I'm going to use that time to
exercise every day. Okay, I've made a
plan. But what happens if you're too
tired? What happens if something comes
up? What happens on day three of your
plan and then you realize you haven't
even started yet? At this point, you
just feel frustrated and disappointed in
yourself because yet again, your plans
haven't come to fruition. So, let's look
at this same problem through the lens of
thinking in systems. And there are three
principles that I want you to keep in
mind whenever you're thinking in
systems, which will help you to build a
system for your own goals. The first
principle when we're thinking in systems
You look at your intention and then you
think about all the factors that would
influence the success of that goal and
that intention. So you are proactively
expecting that plan to fail. You're
expecting to be tired and lazy and for
things to come up and you're asking
yourself what can I do about that? And
so when I'm coaching someone to build
their own systems, one of the first
things I'll do is I will ask them about
all the things they've tried in the past
and then why that didn't work for them.
And I'm paying close attention to what
they did, but also how they responded to
that obstacle or that challenge. It's
important that you do this step because
you need this list of all the possible
barriers because there's a high chance
that the system you end up creating is
going to have to account for all of
these factors. And this is actually
directly tied to the second principle,
which is that you should build your
You do not want to develop a system of
doing something that relies on like all
the stars aligning. You want it to work
on the worst day. And so if you think
about your intention and then the plans
that you have made, you can evaluate
these plans in terms of how repeatable
they are on a bad day and ask yourself,
does it rely on willpower or motivation
for me to execute on this plan? And for
the overwhelming majority of the clients
that I work with, most of the plans that
are created usually require you to
inject motivation and willpower to make
it happen. And that is a violation of
the second principle which is to build
for repeatability. You want to make sure
that there is as little friction as
possible. And so what happens when we
work with these two principles and then
think in systems is that you actually
end up sort of cycling back and forth
between these two principles. You figure
out something that is high effort that
means that you know you're going to rely
on this willpower. And then you think
about ways to avoid that. What are ways
that I can make it easier? And then you
go back and ask yourself, okay, well,
what are the challenges? What are the
obstacles? What are the other factors
that might make that plan not work? So,
for example, there's this accountant
that I was working with last year who
was studying for their chartered
accountancy exams, which is a pretty
dense exam, and they're working
full-time as well. And their plan to
begin with was that they were going to
do a bit of studying for their CA exams
every day after work as soon as they got
home. Now, this plan failed like all the
time because there's too much traffic
and sometimes he gets too tired on his
drive home and then he gets home and
there's family and he has to, you know,
prepare dinner and then after dinner
he's like too tired and too sleepy. He
just wants to relax. And so, one
solution to that, which is the common
one, is to say, okay, well, you just
need to like dig deep and then try
harder. You know, forget it if you're
tired. You know, who cares if you're
tired? Just do it anyway. And yes, that
can work for a period of time, but
personally, I don't believe that that is
sustainable. And it's also kind of like
a not a pleasant way to live every day.
So instead, when we think in systems
holistically and for repeatability, we
look at that problem and we say, "Okay,
sure. What can we do about that? Perhaps
we can uh stay at work for longer after
work." And then you you beat the
traffic, you do the work and the study
that you need to do in your office and
then you come home after that. So that's
us trying to reduce the amount of
effort, tackle some of these barriers
that come up in terms of feeling too
tired, not enough energy. And so we go
back here and think, okay, well, what
are the reasons why that might not work?
So in this case, it's if I come home
that late, then my entire family has to
push back their dinner time. Could that
work? Could you have a conversation with
your family and maybe they're all fine
with it? Maybe they can just push back
dinner by an hour and it's no big deal
and then we've won. So that was one
option. And we explored another option.
Okay, could we just study another time
of the day? Could you study before work
in the morning? The issue is, well, then
I'm not going to get enough sleep. Okay,
so could you sleep earlier to get enough
sleep? Well, I can't because in the
evening, whatever. Okay, could you
change your nighttime routine to make
that happen? So, you see, we're
constantly bouncing back and forth
between looking for that loweffort
solution and then going back to think
about all the reasons why it might not
work until we arrive at this combination
that allows us to lock in that success.
And what's really important with this
process is that you have to think about
it as a series of problems to solve.
Just because your first solution isn't
perfect doesn't mean that there is no
solution. There is some combination of
solutions that will work. Your role when
you're thinking in systems is to look
for that combination until you figure it
out. And this is a process that I
personally repeated hundreds of times,
which eventually is what allowed me to
work full-time as a doctor while running
a business full-time uh and then doing
my masters full-time while going to the
gym and having a social life and
spending time with my family and getting
8 to nine hours of sleep every night.
And often one of the biggest things I do
now when I'm coaching someone is that I
simply am more committed to looking for
that solution for longer than they
normally might. And a lot of the time
the solution we come to from this
thinking process involves a certain
level of discomfort.
But this is actually fine. In fact, this
is a good thing. The fact that a
solution feels uncomfortable means it's
different than what we're used to doing.
and getting a different result to what
we're used to getting is actually the
whole point of thinking in systems. And
what I found is that the discomfort of
making the change and acting on the
solution is often not as bad as the
discomfort of not making the change. Or
it may be uncomfortable to change your
nighttime routine so that you can sleep
one or two hours earlier. Yes, that's
uncomfortable. Sure. But it's not
uncomfortable versus comfortable. It's
uncomfortable versus even more
uncomfortable because if you don't make
those changes, you have to live with the
stress and the pressure and the anxiety
and the disappointment of never being
able to make meaningful progress on
these things that matter to you. Now, as
you do this process and you go back and
forth between these two principles, you
will find that your intentions and your
plans become much clearer and much more
specific. Your plans are not just
general statements about the fact that
you're going to do something at a
certain time. It covers contingencies.
If I'm tired, I'm going to do this. If
I'm not tired, I'm going to do this. You
will learn so much about yourself and
how you respond to different challenges
that you will also learn how you can
make it easier for yourself to just do
the things that you need to do. The way
you follow your plans and create habits
and achieve your goals becomes much more
fluid and dynamic, adapting to the
unexpected challenges of life rather
than having this rigid approach which
constantly butts up against it and the
only thing holding it up is your
unwavering willpower which will waver.
Now, this is something that I've been
doing for years, and I've been helping
people to build their own systems for
years as well, and I've picked up a lot
of little tips and tricks that make it
easier to build systems for certain
goals and overcome certain obstacles.
Now, some of these things I share on
YouTube, but another place that I share
them is in my free weekly newsletter.
These are emails, newsletters that I
write up with my fingers myself. You not
chat GPT generated uh where I think
about what are the things that I wish I
had known when I was first building my
systems and learning to learn
effectively and manage my time more
effectively. What are the biggest needle
movers that allowed me to learn
effectively and advance my career while
maintaining that balance in life? And I
summarize those in these emails and I
send them to you for free every single
week. So, if you're interested in
getting some of those insights, then
I'll leave a link for you to sign up in
the description below. Now, on to the
final principle. At this point, if
you're just doing the first two, you
will succeed. Each iteration of your
plan and your system will just get
better and better until you just don't
have any obstacles left. But this final
principle is what will allow that system
to stay with you and evolve for life.
And it makes it much easier to just
maintain this system. And so I call this
peeling the band-aid. So peel the band-aids.
band-aids.
Your first system that you build from
this process is going to be full of
band-aids. So for example, let's say
that a problem you have uh with carrying
out your plan is that you always feel
too tired and you struggle to focus. So
the first solution might be to take a
nap during the day and to use a timer
when you're working to try to increase
your focus. These are band-aid solutions
because they help you right now in the
short term without addressing the
underlying issue. The reason you're
tired is because you're not getting
enough sleep. The reason that you can't
focus is because your attention span is
terrible. And the reason we want to
remove band-aid solutions even though
they can serve us in the short term is
because it just overbloatates our
system. And if possible, we want to
remove the limitations and conditions
for us to succeed. You know what? If you
don't have time for a nap, what if you
don't have a timer available for you?
Well, in that case, your just plan just
fails for that day. So, while these
band-aid solutions do give us a benefit
right now, they should be a temporary
solution while we work on solving the
underlying problems. And often uh
working on these underlying issues
which means because it involves
unlearning and retraining your habits,
it's going to take time. And so the very
act of changing your habits so that you
can one day remove these band-aid
solutions should actually be part of
your system. And so this changing habits
actually ends up becoming another
intention and then we plug that into our
system. So for example, yes, we might
have figured out that taking a nap and
using a timer is helpful for us right
now. We can use that. But then at the
same time, we think about how we can
improve our sleep habits and how we can
train our attention span. That becomes
our new goal. And then we go through to
these first two steps again to work that
into our system. And by doing this, it
means that the system we create ends up
being effective for us not only in the
short term but also in the long term. So
these are the three principles for
thinking in systems. And it may seem
like a lot of work and a lot of thinking
and you know all very complicated to
create this system. But the crucial
thing you have to understand is that it
is the exact same amount of effort. It's
the same amount or less discomfort. All
we're saying is that there is a
different way that you can direct that
time and effort which is much more
likely to help you achieve your goal and
finally feel like you have a bit more
time and freedom in your life. Now, if
you're a busy professional with lots to
learn and the time spent learning is
sucking away that time and freedom from
your life, then you might want to check
out this video where I teach you how to
create a learning system so that you can
develop deep, meaningful knowledge for
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