Why Setting Up Systems Has Proven To Be Invaluable
So if you heard a bit about my background, you’d know that being productive, disciplined, and proactive wasn’t really a big focus of mine early on. I was what you’d called a go-with-the-wind type of guy. Where the wind blew I went with it with no thought of pushing back or changing course along the way. Just enjoying the ride.
One of the main reasons that I think I was like this was because of what I went through as a kid and how that impacted my view of life. My core beliefs in my teens were to party hard, have fun, and live life with no regrets, something I’d say I lived out pretty well for a few good years because in my head, life was short, so what’s the point of not “living it up” 24/7?
As I’ve gotten older, I still believe in “living it up” and having a lot of fun along the way, but how I go about it is completely different. That belief in living a life of no regrets and having fun is still there but learning how to do so in a more productive and disciplined way was a huge challenge for me… That teenage Tommy didn’t want the party to end.
Setting Up Systems
This is where the idea of systems, or habits, comes into place but based on the definition of system (which is that systems are a set of things working together) I use the idea of systems since I think of what I do as everything working together. This doesn’t mean I’m robotic or boring or don’t want any adventure in life (I actually love quick trips, big hikes, and most outdoor activities) but to accomplish goals at any rate, you can’t just be free willing it all the time.
As James Clear says in his book Atomic habits, “with outcome-based habits, the focus is on what you want to achieve. With identity-based habits, the focus is on who you wish to become”
So let’s break it down into these two buckets and how both have made a difference for me the past few years.
Outcome-based habits
Outcome-based habits are working to change the results you get, for example losing weight, increasing revenue, or winning some ball games. They’re extremely quantifiable and can be tracked pretty dang easily if you stick with it (not always the most fun part but seeing the progress is a big piece to enjoying the journey along the way).
The main reason I find these important is that it gives you a goal to drive to and track as you go. Whether big or small, hitting or even just driving towards goals is what I believe to be one of the best ways to increase confidence in yourself. When you start to hit what you set out to, no matter if it’s just the first step or a big moment, you show yourself that you can follow through on what you say you’re going to do.
Now, this started extremely small for me. To put it lightly, I didn’t like to read, at all. Until I turned 20, the only book I remember reading completely was Where The Red Fern Grows (a great book and an even better movie if I do say so myself, also The Call Of The Wild… can’t beat some of the oldies).
I knew that if I wanted to start to increase the value I could bring, I needed to study more than just the cool types of beer can designs, even if Busch Light has some cool seasonal cans.
This set me out to challenge myself to read a book a month. Not a massive feat by any measure, but I knew that if I followed through I would learn and also show myself that I can build a habit that serves me positively.
It started with just understanding how many pages I needed to read a day and forcing myself to do it, was it fun? Most of the time no, going from not reading to reading daily might sound easy but not for someone who didn’t read much. We all remember being forced to read as a kid, it was the last thing we wanted to do.
After the full 12 months though, I finally got to count the total number of books I read, which was surprisingly 14.
Pat on the back for Tommy, I actually did more than I thought. Now the important piece wasn’t that I actually read, it was that I proved to myself that I could set a goal, track it, and actually act on it completely. Showing that I could now do this on other goals that I had.
Identity-based habits
Identity-based habits are ones that impact your beliefs and the more important side for me is your self-image and judgments about yourself.
If you would’ve asked 20-year-old Tommy who he wanted to become, well I likely would’ve just laughed at the question. I mean in my whole life the question was never who I wanted to be, but what I wanted to be, which at a young age was a Code Name Kid Next Door Agent (check it out if you’ve never heard of it but in my opinion, it’s pretty BA).
Through the years though, I started to piece together who I wanted to be and then started to map out actions I could take to build that identity.
1. A consistently hard worker
Not just another hard worker, but someone who does more than most people around him. I loved the idea of being known as someone who gives it their all, all the time.
This meant I didn’t have to be the smartest but I could get to a similar position with more sweat equity.
How did I start to build this piece you might ask? I doubled down on my outcome-based habits. Instead of reading a book a month, I’d read two. Instead of just clocking in every day for no reason, I had specific goals within a day that I had to get done that I knew would push the amount I would work.
I realized that as much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us float through our day with no intention and if I wanted to build the identity of a consistently hard worker, I had to be intentional.
2. A helping hand
Throughout my life, I’ve been given a lot of opportunities, second chances, and flat-out help from people around me. I owe people like my gma the world because of the sacrifice she made to raise me during high school and all the BS she had to put up with (we liked to have some fun in the basement pretty frequently…).
The best way I thought I could do this, pay it forward.
Now building this identity comes at a weird angle. You want to do good and helpful things for others just because you feel like it’s the right thing to do, but you’re also doing it a bit selfishly.
A tough mental battle I go through still.
How I work to overcome that and start to build that piece was just first schedule it in my calendar. Whether that be driving around Milwaukee handing out water and snacks or volunteering at a local food pantry. By scheduling it some time before doing it, I could take out the idea that I was doing it also for myself and just be in the moment for others.
An everlasting identity build but one that systems can help keep going as long as I go.
Now creating systems or habits isn’t an easy thing to do. It takes time, intention, and sometimes a lot of guts to continue, but if I would recommend one thing to someone, it would be to first ask why you do what you do daily and then if it’s not in alignment with where you want to go and who you want to be, well then start to change it.
