Week 13 - Systematic
Why do we fall into unhealthy cycles?
I started my Q2 focus this week. I’m moving away from building the foundations and creating the space to occupy, and now I will be focusing on the development of my voice and framing. The first book for the quarter is “Thinking in Systems,” and it’s the first book of the year that I am having no fun with. It’s entirely academic, so I keep telling myself “there’s value in the final page” in an effort to keep my interest up.
It’s in that thought that the book actually makes sense. I’ve only started the intro and first chapter, but the early concepts talk about how everything works in a system, and there can be systems layered within to one able to make the overall system more complex. The best example I can give is my barbershop.
The barbershop, serves a purpose, to provide jobs for barbers and to provide grooming services to clients. This is the overall system, and it is relatively straight forward, but within the system are individual businesses. You see, I don’t have employees, I have contractors that run their own independent businesses from their stations, thus adding complexity into the overall system. Now, if one of the barbers changes his prices within their individual system, the barbershop would still function the same. A barber could even leave, and I could hire a different barber, but the overall system of the barbershop will stay the same. But what would happen if one of the barbers had a more dynamic complexity in their individual system that was required for the success of the barbershop. What if I, the shop’s owner, decided to leave the shop? Would bills still get paid? Would marketing continue? Would a new owner step into the role before the system of the barbershop failed?
This is what the concept of the book teaches, the understanding of systems to recognize the value of individual components in an effort to create something that is sustainable.
Now, if everything is a system, how can we recognize unhealthy systems, and what can we do to remedy them in a way that promotes healthy behavior or output? Recognizing the system, you need to look at all of the individual components of the system and their relationship with one another. If my unhealthy decision is eating too many gummy bears, what are the related systems? Is my mental health in good status, or am I looking for sugar as a chemical reaction for something I lack? Is my physical well being in a state of disrepair and do I need to take a look at my ability to discipline myself in my actions? Is it simply that my perception of what “too many” is, is skewed to an extent that I have an unhealthy approach towards an occasional indulgence? All of these are related systems to the acknowledgement that I’m eating too many gummy bears, but it would take a deep, introspective dive to pinpoint which one is the path to pursue.
Having said all of that, I look at the system of my educational practice. I have my computer and my office. If they are in disrepair, I cannot be in a mental space to focus on what it is that I need. If I have too many distractions from the book that I’m focused on, I won’t be able to absorb the content that is necessary for me to learn. If I don’t block out and guard time in my schedule to write and record, my practical application will be forfeit. All of these individual components are systems I have to maximize the efforts of my educational focus, and when I describe this to my clients, a lot of them say it seems overwhelming. This is the crux of why I think so many people fall into the trap of not getting out of their unhealthy systems. By cleaning up each individual system, the overall system runs more efficiently. If I hadn’t spent the time in the first quarter going through the baseline work, I would not have understood the value that the overall system offered. This feedback loop is the momentum that was generated to get the ball rolling, and now it’s simply part of my schedule, so I don’t find things overwhelming in the way I did three months ago.
Having said all of that, we’re officially off to the races.
