In most of our waking time, we either try to solve problems or sit, relax and enjoy our lighter moments.  Problems can be as simple as trying to make a phone call or as challenging as finding a job that we love.  Ever thought, that we can automate part of this problem solving process?

When we solve problems, we keep trying various approaches – some of them work and some don’t.  When things don’t work, we try to change our approach, but eventually get frustrated, if we fail at them continuously.  However, when we succeed, we often enjoy the benefits of success but we do not generally map what approach worked.  When we encounter the same problem again, we try to recollect what worked and try to redo.  In this process, we keep losing out nuances, and often end up getting less than perfect outcomes.

Our random approaches to problems leave us in a perennial learning mode.  Building systems for repeatable problems and improving them to the changing conditions help us immensely in solving this problem of problems.

When scientists find the same outcome after repeating a certain experiment multiple times, they frame it as a theorem.  So every theorem has a repeatable process that would give an expected outcome, when implemented under the given conditions.  What scientists build is actually a systematic process that gives expected results every time.  There is a great benefit in implementing the same approach in our business and personal life too.

I am fascinated by productivity and systems and it’s been my pastime during the last 8 years.  I have studied multiple books, tried various approaches and built multiple systems in the process.  I got disproportionate results with my systems when it comes to improving my productivity at work and life in general.

Unlike scientific systems, productivity and life systems are simple.  They often have a core concept, a defined process and some tools to aid you to implement that process. For example, I wanted to get in touch with my friends with whom I do not interact frequently.  I used to call someone when – a) I remember, b) I have free time to make that call, and c) I reasonably convince myself that my friend would also be free to take calls during that time.  Such a moment rarely occurred, so I barely managed to call 4-5 friends in a whole year.

Then I implemented a simple system.  I set a reminder in my phone – ‘Call Someone’ repeated every Sunday 11:00 AM.  That’s it.  I reached out to over 40 of my old friends last year.  With about 80% adherence to my system, I could reach about 10 times more people compared what I could do the year before.  That’s the power of systems.

Try to apply this principle for every repeatable task that demands motivation in your life and see the results for yourself.  Let me know how it goes.