99% of business + life advice is predicated on the concept that you are broken. That you are not enough, as you are. That, if you want to succeed, you need to learn to prune, and manage and tuck away those bits of you that make you, you.
One of the fun things I like to ask is… what if you're not broken? What happens if the thing you think is a problem, actually isn't? What if it's something you can use to support you!
Most people see systems as props. They’re things you do, ways of being you impose on yourself to “fix” you or “manage” you so you can get rid of all your inconvenient, human bits and have a nice, tidy, productive business/life.
Just one problem: systems are human.
You’re made up of multiple systems, from those in your body to the way you move through your days. A system is just something you do.
Systems are often seen as this thing that you do when your business or life is broken. It’s a tool to help “fix you”.
I believe that systems are inherently human. We are built from multiple systems. A system is just what we do. Systems are not apps, tasks lists, project plans or planners.
So if you’re not broken … and a system is just what you do … then why one earth wouldn’t your business start with you? You’re your best asset, you’re the only specific combination of knowledge, creativity, strengths, and idiosyncrasies there is!
Trying to build a business built on anything less than your whole self is always going to feel not-quite-right. (And, worst case scenario, can feel absolutely miserable.)
Which leads us to #4…
Of course, you wouldn’t know that to look at the state of business advice today. To bring us back full circle, it’s built on this idea that you’re broken, someone else knows how to fix you, and if you follow the system that works for them, then you’ll get where you want to go.
But doing that is like following a map to someone else’s house hoping you’ll get home.
It can be the best map there is. And you might like their house. But it’ll never be home.