I was writing about Casey Combden last night so, of course, lots of my experiences of him have been cycling through my brain the last 24 hours.  “The System is The Secret” was the title of a talk he gave years ago, likely still does today.  God knows it’s a true story.

Think of it this way…  You have a headache.  Take a pill.  You have a back ache.  Take a pill.  You have a stomach ache.  Take a pill…  See a pattern?  We live in an age of “quick fix“, of “magic buttons“, “instant mashed potatoes”, and “The Clapper.”  Face it, you can blame McDonald’s for being Supersized, but you’re the one who stuffed the Big Mac down your throat in the first place dumbass.   (I could go into a whole rant on that movie…  God forbid people market to us.  Let’s blame them because were too fricken stupid to think for ourselves.)

“Life is hard if you live it the easy way, and easy if you look at the hard way” Joe Polish

Treat the system, not the symptom.  Ignored, it might kill you, not to mention your business.  Case in point:  I went to see a doctor once for a pain in my shoulder.  He prescribed muscle relaxants without ever looking at me.  I don’t like medication…  I couldn’t get the sleep, I want to emergency.  The nurse who prescreened me, sent me for x-rays.  I had double pneumonia.  Good job Doc…

You can’t shortcut the shortcut folks.  The fact is most people don’t have a roadmap they can shortcut in the first place.  And that’s the biggest problem of all.  In business it’s pretty simple:

• No System=No Business

Sure you can get some level of success just on pure luck, and hard work can make up for a ton of shortcomings.  But if the goal is to build something profitable, and ultimately sustainable, you need a system….

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System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek σύστημα systēma) is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.

The concept of an “integrated whole” can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the set and elements not a part of the relational regime.

The scientific research field which is engaged in the study of the general properties of systems include systems theory, systems science and systemics. They investigate the abstract properties of the matter and organization, searching concepts and principles which are independent of the specific domain, substance, type, or temporal scales of existence.

Most systems share the same common characteristics. These common characteristics include the following

• Systems are abstractions of reality.
• Systems have structure which is defined by its parts and their composition.
• Systems have behavior, which involves inputs, processing and outputs of material, information or energy.
• The various parts of a system have functional as well as structural relationships between each other.

The term system may also refer to a set of rules that governs behavior or structure.

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The concept of “Integrated Whole” is key here.  A system is not a collection of widgets.  It’s a team of smaller systems that together multiply results.  Not add…multiply.  Adding things to your bottom line is nice. Multiplying your bottom line will make your whole day

So as Eben Pagen often says sometimes you need a little altitude to see what things are really like.  When you’re in the middle of your business it can be hard to see the forest for the trees.  Having the ability to zoom out, and get a big picture view and then zoom back in and do something about it can mean the difference between a Hobby and a Dynasty.

Which are you committed to?

Phil Hughes

philhughes.tv

What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.