Book Notes – Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

Introduction:

• Move away from business needing you in order to function
• Is your self-talk focused on making it through the day?
• Is your day a jumble of events, or is it orderly (personal management problem)
• Systems must be in place before freedom and money come
• To begin, you first need to see them everywhere you look
• Things we do automatically (breakfast, driving, etc) are this way because at some point in time we paid attention
• Elementary and fundamental shift in perspective
• No turning back – once seen, cannot be unseen
• Nothing new – just tweaking your perception
• There will be some heavy lifting
• Documentation is key – written goals and procedures
• Separation, repair, dissection of systems
• Ongoing maintenance of systems

Chapter 1 – The Mindset

• Present moment appreciate is vital – but spend some time ensuring future will be in control as well
• Happiness is found in our control over our personal systems
• Make changes to things you CAN affect vs. things you cannot
• Pay attention to the mechanical details of life

Chapter 2 – A System of Systems

• Author uses Centratel telephone answering service, a company he owns, as illustration
• Preventative systems keep normal systems running

Chapter 3 – The Attack of the Moles

• Quality improvement – increased price by 300% in his business. Lost 1/3 of his customers, revenues doubled
• Despite growth, profitability remained the same
• Are you sabotaging your ability to create systems?
• Are you doing well in systems in some areas of your life and not in others?

Chapter 4 – Gun to the Head Enlightenment

• Centratel about to fail – finally found peace in the inevitable chaos
• Abandoned past assumptions because there was nothing to lose
• Sees everything in a system framework at this point
• Centratel = Primary system composed of subsystems
• Inefficient subsystems create failed primary system
• The world is very efficient already (cars, phones, macro social networks, economy)
• Human body is filled with different systems that work in parallel
• Things that go wrong stem from something wrong in a subsystem
• Our lives are made of countless linear systems
• You need an objective in business in order to develop systems
• Turn business into self-perpetuating organism that doesn’t have files
• Create methodologies for each system that you can break down
• Refine these systems. Create new ones, delete old ones
• Document organic processes to order them into something repeatable
• Systems apply to human routines as well. Room layout, morning routines, etc

Chapter 5 – Execution and Transformation

• Action is a builder of confidence – inaction is the cause of fear
• Strategic Objective – short document outlining philosophy of company/life
• General Operating Principles – keep these in mind, guiding decision makers
• Working Principles – documentation of each subsystem
• Most flawed system first, then next most flawed
• Critical systems made redundant
• Health – use 3 items documents similar to business
• Paying bills – online bill pay instead of hard copy checks

Chapter 6 – Systems Revealed and Managed

• Discover, examine, optimize your systems
• Your are a system of systems – social, health, business, etc
• Peace and prosperity enter as you work through this process
• Everything is a linear system that constantly executes
• An errant procedure in a system causes it to unravel and get out of control
• Repair inefficient mechanisms one by one
• Minor system change versus redoing entire system
• Address problem then take action to improve system
• You must document your system improvements as they happen
• Fix one system after another, do not kill fires
• This must become the priority over day to day business actions
• As you get better at tweaking, you will see them everywhere
• Relationship management system – reason why people don’t call back, remember birthdays, break promises

Chapter 7 – Getting Fit

• One by one, isolate and perfect systems
• Make your systems visible
• Bring 1 by 1 to foreground
• Adjust them
• Document them
• Maintain them
  • Pull individual processes out of the mess and fix them
  • You are the watcher of your life, looking over systems
  • Most fail by not taking action, not by misapplying a system

Chapter 8 – Critical Documentation

• Strategic Objective
• General Operating Principles
• Working Principles and Procedures
• Refining these systems creates compounding returns
• Strategic Objective – one page, life & business separate
• GOP – 2-3 pages, general decision-making guidelines
  • Extract these from everyday experience, may take a month+ to create
• Working Procedures
  • Nitty gritty outline of exactly how a system operates
  • Start with the most critical systems
• Documents are tangible, in reality vs. in your brain
• They remind you of systems focus and keep you from straying
• Get outside the temporary mental setbacks
• Self-rescues always increase self control
• You can depend on mechanical realty to guide you
• Work the System elevates you past the events of the day
• Manufacturing systems are perfect examples of this

Chapter 9 – Project Engineers

• You must internalize the systems mentality
• Build a vivid systems improvement analogy and connect to it
• Author uses position as a project engineer at electric company
• Avoid getting caught up in the work – instead, monitor from outside
• Author has systems for CRM, family, fitness, etc

Chapter 10 – Strategic Objective and GOP

• One types page, first draft should take a few hours
• GOP, over a month or so
• Then, working procedures – majority of time spent here

Chapter 11 – Working Procedures

• Make organic, human processes as reliable as mechanical processes
• Apply system improvements to working procedures
• Repeat over and over and over again
• If they aren’t tangible, they don’t exist
• Anyone can make a system improvement at any time
• Cast procedure in concrete = WRITE IT DOWN
• Create so someone off the street can do the job, more or less
• If you see an area of improvement, fix it immediately
• Working proc. Should evolve, but stabilize over time
• Creating procedures is HIGHEST priority list over day to day work
• Have people delegated and ask them how to improve procedures
• Computer based organizer
• Procedure to create procedures – scale it out
• Must be created with employees
• Automatically modify procedures – no bureaucracy!
• components flawless = org. flawless
• Way in front of 98% of competition by doing this
• Every process needs a working procedure
• Nonrecurring = DO NOT CREATE PROCEDURE
• Presentation, style, tone, display of procedures are consistent

Chapter 12 – Good Enough

• If you’re going to work, WORK. No multitasking
• Better than “good enough” = waste of time/money
• Shoot for 98% perfection – extra 2% worthless
• Are you seeing useless detail about processes?
• Reconciling checkbook to nearest cent. Who cares?

Chapter 13 – Errors of Omission

• What are your top five mistakes in life? Do they stem from inaction?
• Not taking action as an error of omission – recognize this
• Figure out what you are NOT doing that is creating failures in life
• Are you @ mercy of outside system that costs time/$?
  • Fix, replace, eliminate

Chapter 14 – Quiet Confidence

• Lack of quit courage precedes a downfall, incites errors of omission
• g. do things when absolutely don’t want to – build courage
• g. live up to word when convenient not to = build courage
• View laziness as an object, detach mechanically
• Ask why you are lacking quiet courage in the moment to spur action

Chapter 15 – Point of Sale Thinking

• Do not delay actions that could be done immediately
• Handle as things come up – build confidence and avoid overwhelm
• Do/Delegate/Discard
• Automate/systemize
• Multitasking is a fail strategy
• How much of what you do really matters?
• Stop consuming non-valuable information
• DO IT NOW MINDSET
• Measure your body in order to cultivate POS thinking

Chapter 16 – Extraordinary Systems

• Attract and keep people due to great working system
• Give them opportunity and turn them loose
• Smart, honest, clean living people that will attach to your vision
• Leaders of successful businesses are system engineers
• Hiring:
  • Did they show up on time?
  • Aptitude test
  • Did applicant look @ company, have questions
  • Did they listen to you or wait to speak
  • Use gut feelings to disqualify, not to qualify people
  • Be more efficient than your competitors

Chapter 17 – Consistency

• Think in systems wherever you go
• As an employee, your boss is your customer
• Relies on personal habit of consistency
• Clean and organize in your own life – consistently

Chapter 18 – Communication

• Quality of communication = quality of life
• Self-talk-excessive and can become a problem
• Act more, self-ruminate less
• Keep promises – you can become 100% reliable and watch your life change
• Make communication tools available to your staff
• Never bash others behind backs – people know what you’re up to
• Are you acting as if showing up is a favor? Change this mindset

Chapter 19 – BPT and MPT

• Biological prime time = where you are most active and alert in the day. Hard to change this, accept and work with it
• Mechanical prime time = what you do during BPT
• Typically a sine wave throughout the day for BPT, one period in morning and one at night – midday lower energy
• MPT = work on 3 documents during this time
• Ask yourself moment to moment – is this action creating a business or is it perpetuating a job?
• Use MPT to remove yourself from business day to day activities
• Maintain MPT: What should I be doing NOW to grow business?
• How can I delegate/automate rote aspects of my job?
• Most alert periods of the day are spent on MPT tasks
• When not in BPT, other tasks + exercise, social, etc
• Be careful: You still have bad habits. Don’t ‘get feel good about this message yet
• Immerse yourself in what must be done right now – enlightenment.