Work the System, then the System Works You.

Some things are so obvious to one person yet blind to another. I had one such blind spot when it came to systems.   One of my mentors for years talked to me about the importance of systems.  Being the spontaneous, slightly rebellious, non-conforming Aquarian, I thought systems meant irrevocable rules. I blotted out the word from my mind and especially my actions.  In spite of this refusal to reap its rewards, I brushed it aside and went about life in my own sweet way. Surprisingly I achieved a fair bit of success in my businesses and perhaps more than I deserved given my lack of systems.

One day I was at a Business Meet Up in the city, listening to Karen McGregor deliver her one hour talk and I was impressed with many things about her.  Her look, her attention on the audience and her seeming to have it all together.  At one point throughout her talk, I knew she would be my next mentor.  During the Q&A section, I threw up my arm to ask a question about how she got her speaking gigs.  She said that is the last question to ask. The first and most important question is, do you have a system?.  WHAT, there is that word again.

The next morning sitting with my cup of tea contemplating this, I reflected on what is a system and why is it important.  Why is spontaneity and being present with what is, not enough? Suddenly in a blinding flash of the obvious, I saw what a system truly is.  I love systems and do my best work with them and I have just completed two awesome examples.

Let’s back up a month to my discovery of Marie Kondo. Many of you may have been inspired by this little Japanese sprite, who is taking the world by storm with her Tidy Up campaign. She is on Netflix and written many books.  One day I watched all 10 shows and that was it, I was hooked. I spent the next month, with the help of my dear friend Diane, and went through my entire house and followed her SYSTEM. Wait a minute, I didn’t know it was a system then.

Begin with your clothing she said. Pull all the clothes into the middle of the floor in a big pile.  ALL OF THEM. Open your closet, your drawers and stack them in a pile. Next, you are going to go through every item and touch each one tenderly and ask if it sparks joy?  If it does not, you thank it for its service and send it on its way, (either goodwill, clothing assignment or garbage can).

Then you learn how to fold the clothes in a very particular way so that you can actually see them and access them easily when you are looking for them. This blew me away when I saw the neatly folded colours and order of things in my drawers and closet.

Next, you work on your books and do the same thing, all of your books into the middle of the floor.  Then paperwork and memory items, which for me took the longest and was the most difficult. But it is all done now.  I have noticed, the impact of this system is now running through all areas of my life including renovations, credit cards etc. I worked the system and the system is now working me.  It is awesome.

Next, I thought about the program I recently completed with Dr. Angela Lauria, called the Author’s Incubator.  Her system was extraordinary if you followed it impeccably. I did follow it impeccably and successfully wrote my book in 90 days, Honour Your Calling, The Professional Guide to Quitting Your Job and Doing Your Soul Work. I see now it was her system that moved the program along so elegantly. Part of her system was putting out an expensive program without a refund.  That was built into her system because people sign up for things and then don’t follow through. She didn’t want people to make excuses and presumably it was her way of encouraging them to continue on since they put a lot of money on the line for it.

My aha moment revealed.  It was a SYSTEM I have been looking for all along in getting my beloved retreat centre program and the silent retreats out there.

You may be thinking how I could have gotten so far without having this piece fully understood.  I would say it was totally easy because I lived from inner guidance, I managed pretty well. And it would be guidance from within that brought me to this moment.

Now I’m all about systems and learning my next steps in this regard.