Over the next weeks, I’m going to cover ten Systems Mindset concepts that have significantly improved my life over the past two years. Some of them are brand new, developed after Work the System’s last revision, which was just one year ago. Others will be familiar but I’ll give you a fresh update.
The Point of Sale (POS) concept will be the first one I’ll post, this coming Wednesday. POS, it turns out, is the driving force behind the nine concepts that will follow. I’ll get them to you one at a time, in separate posts, spread out over the next five weeks. My latest thinking is that POS is way, way more crucial than what I thought it was when I first wrote about it in the first edition of the book, back in 2008.
All ten concepts are simple and mechanical. High on usability and low on theory, you’ll be able to quickly bootstrap them into your life. Several will describe quick mechanical changes you can make in your smartphone use, email protocol, task list management, general and specific communications, organization protocol, employee relations, etc. Two will relate to your energy level and health. Still another has to do with a sure-fire way to reduce your stress while gaining incredible mental focus.
They are separate from each other but the concepts cross-feed. Will you use all of them? That will happen for some, but even if you implement just one you’ll jump ahead in your quest for freedom. (Freedom? My prosaic definition includes lots of free time and lots of money…).
Here’s an excerpt from my book. “There are things I must do right NOW, and there is barely enough time to do them. I will bulldoze my way through these tasks, and as usual they will be completed just in time—but the results will be of marginal quality and my body and mind will continue to be stretched to the breaking point. I’m tired and stressed. There is too much chaos in my life and never enough money. My world is far from what I want . . .”
There will be easy and brief homework here and there. I will sometimes give you some further reading, but mostly I will ask you to just think about the latest concept as you negotiate the following days. Think about it as it relates to your real-time thoughts and the subsequent actions you could take because of those thoughts. Drop any preconceived menu and make up your own mind. Internalize the concept, then apply it in the next moment. Talk to your friends and family about it. Test it. See if it makes a difference and then ask yourself how you feel about the results. Work it!
Once you “get” a concept, only bad habits and low motivation will hold you back. But then again, if you apply the approach and see immediate results, it will be easy to incorporate.
If you haven’t read Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, try to get started. You’ll get more out of this series if you do. The book is free in PDF and/or audio on the website. Also on the website, you can buy the hardcover at my cost (in the United States, 70% less than via Amazon. Outside the U.S., it’s at my cost plus shipping. Go here for details).
Ten Concepts That Obsess Me Now
Introduction
Part 1, Point of Sale
Part 2, Critical Thinking Search and Rescue
Part 3, A Business is a Dispassionate Machine
Part 4, Hyper-Efficiency Via Total Inbox
Part 5, Emailed Voice Mail (EVM)
Part 6, Thinking Slow, Moving Fast
Part 7, Deal Killers and the Main Machine
Part 8, The Simple Key to Double Sales and Create Raving Fans
Part 9, The Tail Wagging the Dog Syndrome
Part 10, Do You Have Quiet Courage?