What Are Systems?

In talking with some friends and colleagues I’ve decided to back up and get into the basics of explaining the work I do and why I pour my life and energy into this business. Let’s start with the very first question – what is a “system?” and then I’ll segue into “why does it matter?”

You unconsciously use systems every day in all areas of your life.

When you wake up, brush your teeth, comb your hair and get dressed – that’s a system. It’s one your parents probably instilled in you from a very early age. Weekdays when you pick up a briefcase or purse, get in your car, drive to an office, unlock the door and put your lunch in the fridge – that’s another system. No one had to teach you with a manual how to get to the office in the morning but you developed those habits over time.

After a networking event when you make notes on the business cards you’ve received, reach out with emails and file those cards away for reference – it’s a system. Such emails and notes are usually personalized, created over  time and refined but it’s a system you use.

Even at the end of the day when you put spaghetti noodles on the stove, heat up the tomato sauce, add spices and broil the garlic bread for dinner: you’re performing a system. Systems are the way you perform tasks that have individual components forming a whole and when practiced provide consistency and stability.

The amazing thing about systems is that even if it seems natural, each step has actually been taught and refined over the years. If your water boils over you learn to turn the heat down. If you get hungry mid-morning at the office you practice carrying a snack as well as lunch. And if there’s a particular street or intersection with construction you quickly find an alternative route to get to work.

One of the reasons I’m so drawn to this work is because I have always been a very naturally organized person but it does not bother me if you do not have routines, structures and systems in your personal life. If you can never find your keys in the morning or routinely forget to return a library book, then so be it. What compels me to step out every day and reach entrepreneurs with my message is that if you do not have systems in your business then you will fail to reach your highest earning potential, impact in your field, or enjoy the fruits of your labor.

In short, systems enable freedom for both your business and personal time and that is something I’m committed to helping thousands of entrepreneurs achieve.