The Bonuses in Systems Thinking
In the past 2 months, I’ve done 3 workshops (so crazy and amazing!) around an area I’m super passionate about…Systems Thinking.
I don’t come in as a time management expert because I’m not one.
I come in to bring awareness to some narratives that may live in our heads:
When it comes to running a business, leading a household of 4, or even just leading a household of 1: you have to have it figured out. You have to. And if you don’t, then you’re failing.
You have to own and do it all. It’s a solo job. Your time is your time, and no one can help you figure it out.
Neither of these are true.
When working through the system I teach on - it’s super fancy - it’s looking at everything you do and deciding if you’re going to Keep it. Donate it. Trash it. When doing this, so many things come up for people.
A lack of self-worth, perfectionism tendencies, and people-pleasing, just to name a few.
We go through the endless running list that typically takes up too much space in our head, stuff we have for our business, home, work, kids, and stuff we keep forgetting about.
We look at what is truly ours to own, what’s not, and what just needs to be removed from the list - or maybe moved down the list because it’s not as much of a priority as we thought.
And while a lot of attendees are looking at what they can adjust within their business or at work they’ve also shared how this system is helping at home and I wanted to share those (and yes, some are mine):
Subscribe and use Thrive Market to minimize time at the store and for us it’s a monthly box so when they eat all the snacks they have to wait until the next one.
Have a Sunday meal planning meeting so they don’t have to hear “What’s for dinner?” throughout the week
Stopped being the one who makes the bed in the morning
Hired someone to help run their kid from school to extra activities
Bought a robot vacuum (this is me and his name is Sweeper Steve and I love him)
Assigned kids to more chores around the house
Talked with their spouse about taking care of certain appointments as they have more flexibility
How amazing is this?
A lot of times they don’t feel like big things…but they really are big things, and for two reasons…
They’re seeing the value of their time and energy
They’re seeing that it’s okay to have a task completed in a way that’s maybe different from how they’d do it but that it can still get done (I see you, perfectionists!)
When you think about the list of to-do’s you have, do you tend to lean toward those false beliefs? Or can you look at them and see an opportunity to offload the ones that don’t necessarily belong to you?