Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

This systems rationale is not another feel-good, think-positive invocation, and it’s not about faith. It’s about stone-cold mechanical reality.

Few people think their problems are a result of system failure. Most see their troubles as isolated events, blaming fate, horoscopes, bad luck, karma, God, the devil, neighbors, competitors, family members, the weather, the president, Congress, liberals, conservatives, global warming, too much TV, lack of money, too much money, the educational syst

Each thing we do is a component of a system. We are not balls in a pinball machine randomly bouncing around at the mercy of our surroundings.

Your job is not to be a fire-killer. Your job is to prevent fires. Of course, in daily life you will always encounter fire-killing, but the idea is to minimize it.

Who knows what that voice mail–inundated young man does for a living, but I tell you this: He is mismanaging things if his world can’t proceed for a single week without his direct influence; if the myriad systems in which he is involved all come to a halt when he is not available.

The world is not a chaotic jumble of people, objects, and events clanging together in disarray. The world is a place of order and logic, a place of predictability. The world is a collection of logical systems!

First, I would create the Strategic Objective, which would define us and set goals. Second, I would put together the General Operating Principles, which would serve as our guidelines for making decisions. Third, we would write out our Working Procedures, which would exactly define every recurring process of the business.

Your life is composed of systems that are yours to control—or not control.

Freedom and wealth occur after the mechanics are in place.