Systems in Real Life

While I teach business systems, I often use examples of systems in real life because they are easier for most people (who don’t love systems) to understand.

Here are two existing systems that you probably try to practice in your own life. 

System #1 Chores that Never Seem to End

As an adult, it can be tiresome to be on the Merry-Go-Round of chores. Do the dishes, wash and fold laundry, sweep floors, vacuum, fill the car up with gas, mow the lawn. It’s annoying because you’ll use those same dishes tomorrow, dirty your clothes and floors, empty the car’s tank and the grass keeps growing.

But most adults don’t throw a fit and scream “I don’t wanna!” and refuse to wash their clothes or take a bath. We recognize that tasks have to be done with regularity and you can’t get all the value from one application.

It’s the same in our businesses! You can’t post on Twitter once, write a single blog post, talk to one person or speak with one lead and expect on-going results. So just like the hassle of laundry, dishes and mowing the lawn you’ll need to embrace that some systems must be done in intervals. And those intervals can vary. There are daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual tasks… it all depends on your business and the needs.

Just like in your personal life, you can hire people to clean your home, fold your laundry or mow your lawn, if you choose. But just because you don’t enjoy a task doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for doing it.

System #2 Learning New Skills One Step at a Time

Let’s assume you have a child who loves to hang out in the kitchen and wants to cook with you. If this child is small, you might start with pouring already measured ingredients into a bowl or, if you supervise carefully, stirring. As the child grows and becomes more steady, less likely to sneeze on the food and has more fine motor control, you can progress to cracking eggs, using the oven and adding a cup of sugar (not salt!) to the cookie batter.

But if you’re facing a 5 year old in your kitchen, you wouldn’t begin with the finer points of making creme brulee. Because that would be foolish. You start with basics and advance to the more detailed work later.

Your business systems are the same way. If you don’t have your working hours set, then you shouldn’t be worrying about an automated scheduling integration on your website. If you haven’t launched anything in 3 years then stop worrying about the third upsell offer for a new product.

Start with where you are in terms of skill, knowledge, experience and income and trust that once you have those things mastered, you’ll advance to the next level.

The next time you’re looking at your business systems and thinking “huh?” try going back to the very basic first step you need to decide and, once you have that determined, figure out how often you need to do that task to get results.