How to Build Systems to Actually Achieve Your Goals — Transcript

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1. 0:00How is someone meant to balance working
2. 0:03full-time with constantly learning and
3. 0:06upskilling while getting enough sleep
4. 0:09while exercising and taking care of your
5. 0:11health and then spending time with your
6. 0:12loved ones and then having free time for
7. 0:14hobbies? Is that even possible? Yes, it
8. 0:18is. But only if you think in systems.
9. 0:22I've spent over a decade coaching
10. 0:24thousands of professionals to learn
11. 0:26efficiently and succeed in their careers
12. 0:28while having enough time and freedom to
13. 0:32live life. And in my experience,
14. 0:35thinking in systems is the secret to
15. 0:38regaining control and freedom so that
16. 0:41you're not stuck on that hamster wheel
17. 0:43of constantly feeling busy while at the
18. 0:46same time not making progress on the
19. 0:48things that you really care about. So,
20. 0:49in this video, I'll explain what
21. 0:51thinking in systems actually means, and
22. 0:53I'll share with you some simple ways to
23. 0:55build systems for your own goals
24. 0:57utilizing the same principles I use when
25. 0:59I'm coaching clients. So, what does
26. 1:02thinking in systems
27. 1:04actually mean?
28. 1:10The point of thinking in systems is that
29. 1:13you reduce your reliance on thinking in
30. 1:15terms of willpower
31. 1:18and motivation. The aim is to reduce
32. 1:21your dependency on these two things. And
33. 1:24instead what we do is that we build
34. 1:27processes
35. 1:30that automatically help us to achieve
36. 1:33the types of results that we're looking
37. 1:34for. And once you find the processes
38. 1:36that actually work, you then chain these
39. 1:39processes together and now you've got a
40. 1:42system. Most people don't think in
41. 1:44systems. Most people are operating in
42. 1:47terms of intentions and tasks. So
43. 1:49thinking I need to exercise today or I
44. 1:52need to get more sleep or I need to
45. 1:53finish that course. But when you're
46. 1:55busy, it is difficult to turn these
47. 1:57intentions into reality. Now if you're
48. 1:59more proactive, you go from these
49. 2:01intentions
50. 2:05And then you turn these intentions into
51. 2:07plans.
52. 2:08So for example, it's not just I need to
53. 2:11read more. It's I'm going to spend an
54. 2:14hour every evening to dedicate to
55. 2:16reading. And it's not just I need to
56. 2:18exercise more. It's okay when I get home
57. 2:20from work, I'm going to use that time to
58. 2:22exercise every day. Okay, I've made a
59. 2:23plan. But what happens if you're too
60. 2:25tired? What happens if something comes
61. 2:27up? What happens on day three of your
62. 2:29plan and then you realize you haven't
63. 2:31even started yet? At this point, you
64. 2:32just feel frustrated and disappointed in
65. 2:35yourself because yet again, your plans
66. 2:36haven't come to fruition. So, let's look
67. 2:38at this same problem through the lens of
68. 2:40thinking in systems. And there are three
69. 2:43principles that I want you to keep in
70. 2:45mind whenever you're thinking in
71. 2:47systems, which will help you to build a
72. 2:48system for your own goals. The first
73. 2:50principle when we're thinking in systems
74. 2:52is to think about things holistically.
75. 2:56You look at your intention and then you
76. 2:59think about all the factors that would
77. 3:01influence the success of that goal and
78. 3:04that intention. So you are proactively
79. 3:07expecting that plan to fail. You're
80. 3:09expecting to be tired and lazy and for
81. 3:12things to come up and you're asking
82. 3:15yourself what can I do about that? And
83. 3:18so when I'm coaching someone to build
84. 3:20their own systems, one of the first
85. 3:22things I'll do is I will ask them about
86. 3:23all the things they've tried in the past
87. 3:25and then why that didn't work for them.
88. 3:27And I'm paying close attention to what
89. 3:29they did, but also how they responded to
90. 3:32that obstacle or that challenge. It's
91. 3:33important that you do this step because
92. 3:35you need this list of all the possible
93. 3:38barriers because there's a high chance
94. 3:40that the system you end up creating is
95. 3:42going to have to account for all of
96. 3:43these factors. And this is actually
97. 3:44directly tied to the second principle,
98. 3:46which is that you should build your
99. 3:48system for repeatability.
100. 3:54You do not want to develop a system of
101. 3:56doing something that relies on like all
102. 3:59the stars aligning. You want it to work
103. 4:02on the worst day. And so if you think
104. 4:04about your intention and then the plans
105. 4:06that you have made, you can evaluate
106. 4:08these plans in terms of how repeatable
107. 4:10they are on a bad day and ask yourself,
108. 4:14does it rely on willpower or motivation
109. 4:17for me to execute on this plan? And for
110. 4:20the overwhelming majority of the clients
111. 4:21that I work with, most of the plans that
112. 4:23are created usually require you to
113. 4:26inject motivation and willpower to make
114. 4:28it happen. And that is a violation of
115. 4:30the second principle which is to build
116. 4:32for repeatability. You want to make sure
117. 4:34that there is as little friction as
118. 4:37possible. And so what happens when we
119. 4:39work with these two principles and then
120. 4:40think in systems is that you actually
121. 4:42end up sort of cycling back and forth
122. 4:44between these two principles. You figure
123. 4:47out something that is high effort that
124. 4:50means that you know you're going to rely
125. 4:52on this willpower. And then you think
126. 4:53about ways to avoid that. What are ways
127. 4:56that I can make it easier? And then you
128. 4:58go back and ask yourself, okay, well,
129. 5:00what are the challenges? What are the
130. 5:01obstacles? What are the other factors
131. 5:03that might make that plan not work? So,
132. 5:05for example, there's this accountant
133. 5:07that I was working with last year who
134. 5:08was studying for their chartered
135. 5:09accountancy exams, which is a pretty
136. 5:10dense exam, and they're working
137. 5:12full-time as well. And their plan to
138. 5:14begin with was that they were going to
139. 5:16do a bit of studying for their CA exams
140. 5:18every day after work as soon as they got
141. 5:20home. Now, this plan failed like all the
142. 5:23time because there's too much traffic
143. 5:26and sometimes he gets too tired on his
144. 5:27drive home and then he gets home and
145. 5:29there's family and he has to, you know,
146. 5:31prepare dinner and then after dinner
147. 5:33he's like too tired and too sleepy. He
148. 5:34just wants to relax. And so, one
149. 5:36solution to that, which is the common
150. 5:38one, is to say, okay, well, you just
151. 5:40need to like dig deep and then try
152. 5:42harder. You know, forget it if you're
153. 5:44tired. You know, who cares if you're
154. 5:45tired? Just do it anyway. And yes, that
155. 5:48can work for a period of time, but
156. 5:50personally, I don't believe that that is
157. 5:51sustainable. And it's also kind of like
158. 5:53a not a pleasant way to live every day.
159. 5:55So instead, when we think in systems
160. 5:57holistically and for repeatability, we
161. 5:58look at that problem and we say, "Okay,
162. 6:00sure. What can we do about that? Perhaps
163. 6:03we can uh stay at work for longer after
164. 6:06work." And then you you beat the
165. 6:08traffic, you do the work and the study
166. 6:09that you need to do in your office and
167. 6:11then you come home after that. So that's
168. 6:13us trying to reduce the amount of
169. 6:15effort, tackle some of these barriers
170. 6:18that come up in terms of feeling too
171. 6:19tired, not enough energy. And so we go
172. 6:22back here and think, okay, well, what
173. 6:23are the reasons why that might not work?
174. 6:25So in this case, it's if I come home
175. 6:27that late, then my entire family has to
176. 6:29push back their dinner time. Could that
177. 6:31work? Could you have a conversation with
178. 6:33your family and maybe they're all fine
179. 6:34with it? Maybe they can just push back
180. 6:36dinner by an hour and it's no big deal
181. 6:38and then we've won. So that was one
182. 6:40option. And we explored another option.
183. 6:41Okay, could we just study another time
184. 6:43of the day? Could you study before work
185. 6:44in the morning? The issue is, well, then
186. 6:47I'm not going to get enough sleep. Okay,
187. 6:48so could you sleep earlier to get enough
188. 6:50sleep? Well, I can't because in the
189. 6:51evening, whatever. Okay, could you
190. 6:52change your nighttime routine to make
191. 6:55that happen? So, you see, we're
192. 6:56constantly bouncing back and forth
193. 6:58between looking for that loweffort
194. 7:00solution and then going back to think
195. 7:02about all the reasons why it might not
196. 7:04work until we arrive at this combination
197. 7:06that allows us to lock in that success.
198. 7:09And what's really important with this
199. 7:10process is that you have to think about
200. 7:12it as a series of problems to solve.
201. 7:15Just because your first solution isn't
202. 7:18perfect doesn't mean that there is no
203. 7:19solution. There is some combination of
204. 7:23solutions that will work. Your role when
205. 7:26you're thinking in systems is to look
206. 7:28for that combination until you figure it
207. 7:30out. And this is a process that I
208. 7:32personally repeated hundreds of times,
209. 7:35which eventually is what allowed me to
210. 7:37work full-time as a doctor while running
211. 7:40a business full-time uh and then doing
212. 7:43my masters full-time while going to the
213. 7:46gym and having a social life and
214. 7:48spending time with my family and getting
215. 7:508 to nine hours of sleep every night.
216. 7:51And often one of the biggest things I do
217. 7:53now when I'm coaching someone is that I
218. 7:55simply am more committed to looking for
219. 7:59that solution for longer than they
220. 8:01normally might. And a lot of the time
221. 8:03the solution we come to from this
222. 8:05thinking process involves a certain
223. 8:07level of discomfort.
224. 8:10But this is actually fine. In fact, this
225. 8:12is a good thing. The fact that a
226. 8:14solution feels uncomfortable means it's
227. 8:17different than what we're used to doing.
228. 8:19and getting a different result to what
229. 8:22we're used to getting is actually the
230. 8:23whole point of thinking in systems. And
231. 8:25what I found is that the discomfort of
232. 8:27making the change and acting on the
233. 8:30solution is often not as bad as the
234. 8:32discomfort of not making the change. Or
235. 8:35it may be uncomfortable to change your
236. 8:37nighttime routine so that you can sleep
237. 8:39one or two hours earlier. Yes, that's
238. 8:41uncomfortable. Sure. But it's not
239. 8:44uncomfortable versus comfortable. It's
240. 8:46uncomfortable versus even more
241. 8:48uncomfortable because if you don't make
242. 8:50those changes, you have to live with the
243. 8:52stress and the pressure and the anxiety
244. 8:54and the disappointment of never being
245. 8:56able to make meaningful progress on
246. 8:57these things that matter to you. Now, as
247. 8:59you do this process and you go back and
248. 9:02forth between these two principles, you
249. 9:04will find that your intentions and your
250. 9:06plans become much clearer and much more
251. 9:08specific. Your plans are not just
252. 9:10general statements about the fact that
253. 9:12you're going to do something at a
254. 9:13certain time. It covers contingencies.
255. 9:15If I'm tired, I'm going to do this. If
256. 9:17I'm not tired, I'm going to do this. You
257. 9:18will learn so much about yourself and
258. 9:21how you respond to different challenges
259. 9:23that you will also learn how you can
260. 9:25make it easier for yourself to just do
261. 9:28the things that you need to do. The way
262. 9:30you follow your plans and create habits
263. 9:32and achieve your goals becomes much more
264. 9:34fluid and dynamic, adapting to the
265. 9:38unexpected challenges of life rather
266. 9:40than having this rigid approach which
267. 9:42constantly butts up against it and the
268. 9:44only thing holding it up is your
269. 9:46unwavering willpower which will waver.
270. 9:50Now, this is something that I've been
271. 9:52doing for years, and I've been helping
272. 9:53people to build their own systems for
273. 9:55years as well, and I've picked up a lot
274. 9:57of little tips and tricks that make it
275. 9:59easier to build systems for certain
276. 10:02goals and overcome certain obstacles.
277. 10:04Now, some of these things I share on
278. 10:05YouTube, but another place that I share
279. 10:07them is in my free weekly newsletter.
280. 10:09These are emails, newsletters that I
281. 10:11write up with my fingers myself. You not
282. 10:15chat GPT generated uh where I think
283. 10:17about what are the things that I wish I
284. 10:20had known when I was first building my
285. 10:21systems and learning to learn
286. 10:23effectively and manage my time more
287. 10:24effectively. What are the biggest needle
288. 10:26movers that allowed me to learn
289. 10:28effectively and advance my career while
290. 10:31maintaining that balance in life? And I
291. 10:33summarize those in these emails and I
292. 10:35send them to you for free every single
293. 10:37week. So, if you're interested in
294. 10:38getting some of those insights, then
295. 10:39I'll leave a link for you to sign up in
296. 10:41the description below. Now, on to the
297. 10:42final principle. At this point, if
298. 10:45you're just doing the first two, you
299. 10:48will succeed. Each iteration of your
300. 10:50plan and your system will just get
301. 10:52better and better until you just don't
302. 10:53have any obstacles left. But this final
303. 10:55principle is what will allow that system
304. 10:57to stay with you and evolve for life.
305. 11:00And it makes it much easier to just
306. 11:02maintain this system. And so I call this
307. 11:05peeling the band-aid. So peel the
308. 11:08band-aids.
309. 11:11Your first system that you build from
310. 11:13this process is going to be full of
311. 11:16band-aids. So for example, let's say
312. 11:17that a problem you have uh with carrying
313. 11:20out your plan is that you always feel
314. 11:21too tired and you struggle to focus. So
315. 11:25the first solution might be to take a
316. 11:27nap during the day and to use a timer
317. 11:30when you're working to try to increase
318. 11:31your focus. These are band-aid solutions
319. 11:34because they help you right now in the
320. 11:35short term without addressing the
321. 11:37underlying issue. The reason you're
322. 11:38tired is because you're not getting
323. 11:39enough sleep. The reason that you can't
324. 11:42focus is because your attention span is
325. 11:44terrible. And the reason we want to
326. 11:46remove band-aid solutions even though
327. 11:48they can serve us in the short term is
328. 11:51because it just overbloatates our
329. 11:53system. And if possible, we want to
330. 11:56remove the limitations and conditions
331. 11:59for us to succeed. You know what? If you
332. 12:01don't have time for a nap, what if you
333. 12:03don't have a timer available for you?
334. 12:04Well, in that case, your just plan just
335. 12:06fails for that day. So, while these
336. 12:08band-aid solutions do give us a benefit
337. 12:11right now, they should be a temporary
338. 12:14solution while we work on solving the
339. 12:16underlying problems. And often uh
340. 12:19working on these underlying issues
341. 12:21involves a change in habits
342. 12:25which means because it involves
343. 12:28unlearning and retraining your habits,
344. 12:30it's going to take time. And so the very
345. 12:33act of changing your habits so that you
346. 12:37can one day remove these band-aid
347. 12:39solutions should actually be part of
348. 12:42your system. And so this changing habits
349. 12:45actually ends up becoming another
350. 12:47intention and then we plug that into our
351. 12:49system. So for example, yes, we might
352. 12:52have figured out that taking a nap and
353. 12:54using a timer is helpful for us right
354. 12:56now. We can use that. But then at the
355. 12:59same time, we think about how we can
356. 13:02improve our sleep habits and how we can
357. 13:05train our attention span. That becomes
358. 13:08our new goal. And then we go through to
359. 13:10these first two steps again to work that
360. 13:14into our system. And by doing this, it
361. 13:17means that the system we create ends up
362. 13:19being effective for us not only in the
363. 13:21short term but also in the long term. So
364. 13:23these are the three principles for
365. 13:25thinking in systems. And it may seem
366. 13:27like a lot of work and a lot of thinking
367. 13:30and you know all very complicated to
368. 13:32create this system. But the crucial
369. 13:34thing you have to understand is that it
370. 13:37is the exact same amount of effort. It's
371. 13:40the same amount or less discomfort. All
372. 13:44we're saying is that there is a
373. 13:45different way that you can direct that
374. 13:48time and effort which is much more
375. 13:50likely to help you achieve your goal and
376. 13:54finally feel like you have a bit more
377. 13:56time and freedom in your life. Now, if
378. 13:58you're a busy professional with lots to
379. 13:59learn and the time spent learning is
380. 14:02sucking away that time and freedom from
381. 14:03your life, then you might want to check
382. 14:05out this video where I teach you how to
383. 14:07create a learning system so that you can
384. 14:10develop deep, meaningful knowledge for
385. 14:13huge workloads in half the time.