A friend asked me the other day, “What are some “systems” that you have incorporated in your life that you felt have been super good ROI?”
Here was my response:
- Weekly review
- Every week I reflect on things that went well, things that didn’t go according to plan, how i could have prevented that. I would highly recommend doing something like this if you don’t already. It’s a really good way to make sure you’re noticing the things that are actually happening in your life/work. During this I try to be as objective as possible and not pass judgement on myself. This is the best way to make sure you’re being honest about why you did something. Attributing negative feelings towards a behavior makes you less incentivized to notice again in the future - no one wants to feel bad and people will go to pretty fascinating lengths to build blind spots for things they want to avoid thinking about. I find that it also makes it easier to implement new habits/goals too. This is a newer system I’ve adopted but so far has been extremely rewarding.
- Scheduled deep work time
- I block off mornings as Do Not Disturb blocks of work. No meetings/no notifications. Consistency is important to me and having scheduled deep work time allows me to get in solid hours of programming in vs scattered interrupted work.
- Non-violent communication
- I have been practicing (but not yet mastering) non-violent communication. Not really sure if this counts as a “system” but seems worthwhile to think about consistently.
- Social spreadsheet
- This sounds creepy but I promise it’s only used for good 🙂I keep a spreadsheet of people and interactions. This helps me remember/keep in contact with folks and helps me to be a more intentional friend/ally.