00:00:00Well, this video is all about how you can achieve
00:00:02more success in your personal or professional life
00:00:05by building systems.
00:00:06So we're gonna talk about the philosophy of this,
00:00:08why systems are important and what the difference is
00:00:10between people who have systems and people who don't.
00:00:12And in the second part of the video,
00:00:13I'm gonna go through five systems
00:00:14that I think you should totally incorporate into your life
00:00:17if you haven't already,
00:00:18because they will drastically,
00:00:19drastically increase your chances
00:00:21of achieving whatever your own personal definition
00:00:22of success actually is.
00:00:24And if you're new here, hello, my name is Ali.
00:00:25I'm a doctor turned entrepreneur
00:00:26and author of the New York Times bestseller,
00:00:28Feel Good Productivity.
00:00:29And this channel is all about the books and ideas
00:00:31and strategies and tools
00:00:32that can help us achieve financial freedom,
00:00:34live life on our own terms
00:00:35and ultimately build a life that we love.
00:00:36So if that sounds good,
00:00:37you might like to hit the subscribe button,
00:00:38but now let's dive into the video.
00:00:40All right, so let's start out with a definition.
00:00:42So we are all trying to work towards this thing
00:00:44that we called success,
00:00:45but what the hell does success actually mean?
00:00:47There are lots of different definitions.
00:00:49People have their own like ways of defining this,
00:00:51but in my opinion,
00:00:52you would generally consider yourself successful
00:00:55if you've achieved or if you're actively working
00:00:56towards goals that you intrinsically care about.
00:00:59I would say your life is kind of successful
00:01:01if you're working towards those goals in a balanced way.
00:01:03So for example, I wouldn't call it massive success
00:01:06if you're single-mindedly focused on just this one thing,
00:01:09but then you've like wrecked your health
00:01:11and your relationships and your life along the way.
00:01:13I wouldn't personally think of that as being success.
00:01:15And finally, success is where you are actually enjoying
00:01:18the journey along the way,
00:01:19because ultimately you could have success.
00:01:21You could have the nicest house.
00:01:22You could have the fanciest job.
00:01:23You could have the biggest business,
00:01:25but if you haven't enjoyed the journey of getting there,
00:01:27it will very much feel hollow
00:01:28because you'll get to that destination
00:01:30and you'll realize that that is not where happiness
00:01:31and salvation is actually to be found.
00:01:33Now, in order to achieve our goals,
00:01:34we basically need to take a series of actions.
00:01:36If we take the right sorts of actions
00:01:38and do them for long enough and consistently enough,
00:01:40we are more likely to get to our goals.
00:01:41In order to have a generally balanced life,
00:01:42we kind of need a somewhat reasonable diversity of goals
00:01:45and a therefore diversity of actions
00:01:47across the different domains of our life.
00:01:49For example, our professional and personal life,
00:01:51our work, our health, our relationships, our hobbies.
00:01:54And in order to have enjoyment along the way, to be honest,
00:01:56a lot of it comes from our approach to things.
00:01:58Like if you approach stuff in a sort of playful way,
00:02:01if you approach things in a sincere rather than serious way,
00:02:04if you have an attitude and a mindset of non-attachment,
00:02:06like you're working towards your goals
00:02:08and you're doing stuff to get there,
00:02:09but you're not overly attached to any particular outcome.
00:02:11And of course, if you can drive intrinsic motivation
00:02:13for the goals that you're achieving.
00:02:14So rather than being motivated by external factors,
00:02:18like, I don't know, fame and money
00:02:19and what your society thinks you should do or whatever,
00:02:21you're actually motivated by intrinsic things
00:02:23like you actually wanna do the thing.
00:02:24Those are generally the factors that lead to enjoyment.
00:02:26And I would like to offer for your consideration
00:02:28in this video that if you build systems into your life,
00:02:32you are actually far more likely to achieve your goals.
00:02:35You're more likely to do the actions
00:02:37that are required to achieve your goals.
00:02:39You're more likely to have a balanced approach
00:02:41to the goals and the actions that you achieve and take.
00:02:43And you're also more likely to have enjoyment
00:02:45along the journey all by building
00:02:47the right sorts of system into your life.
00:02:51So now let's try and define what actually is a system.
00:02:54And you can define a system as a network
00:02:56of interconnected things that lead to a particular result.
00:03:00And those things could be, for example, actions,
00:03:03or they could be processes,
00:03:04which are really just like sets of actions,
00:03:06or they could be checklists,
00:03:08which are, again, really just sets of actions.
00:03:10So what you basically have is that a system
00:03:11is a step-by-step set of actions
00:03:13that leads to a particular result.
00:03:15And again, the whole point of this video
00:03:17is that I would like to argue
00:03:18that if you can take the approach
00:03:19of building more systems into your life
00:03:21and basically systemizing your approach
00:03:23to your personal and professional life,
00:03:24in my opinion, you are far more likely to achieve success,
00:03:26whatever that definition of success is for you.
00:03:28Now, I wanna give you a couple of examples here.
00:03:30So imagine the world of aviation, right?
00:03:32Like pilots piloting airplanes.
00:03:35That is an enormously high stakes situation.
00:03:37And the entire world of aviation is built around systems.
00:03:40Systems are the most important thing.
00:03:42There is a system to build the appropriate airplane.
00:03:44This is why basically all airplanes kind of look the same
00:03:47because people have figured out a system
00:03:49for making airplanes fly.
00:03:50And so if you deviate too much from the system,
00:03:52you end up not building an airplane that flies.
00:03:54Let's take another high stakes thing like medicine.
00:03:56I used to be a doctor in case you didn't know.
00:03:57And medicine is all about following a system.
00:04:00Yes, there is some level of like individual stuff
00:04:02that the doctors do.
00:04:03For example, like, you know,
00:04:04talking to the patient and make them feel nice.
00:04:06But when you go and see a doctor
00:04:07and you talk to them about your problems,
00:04:08the doctor is actually following a system.
00:04:10One of the most popular systems
00:04:11is the Calgary Cambridge method of patient interviewing,
00:04:13which is like a whole system for what sort of questions
00:04:16as a doctor you need to ask the patient
00:04:18in order to make sure that you've got on all the symptoms
00:04:20and all the signs and all that kind of stuff.
00:04:21When the doctor examines you and listens to your heart
00:04:24and like examines your abdomen
00:04:25and all of that kind of stuff.
00:04:26Again, they are following a system.
00:04:27They are not just making shit up as they go along.
00:04:30If they have lots and lots of experience, then yes.
00:04:32Then, you know, the systemization of the thing
00:04:35for doctors starts to become second nature.
00:04:37They start to pattern recognize.
00:04:38And so they're following a system,
00:04:40even though they often don't realize
00:04:42they're following a system
00:04:43because the system has been so drilled into them
00:04:45that they can now kind of go a little bit off script.
00:04:47But even then, even if you're like a surgeon
00:04:49with 50 years of experience
00:04:50and you're like the world's best person,
00:04:51you still literally have to fill out a checklist
00:04:54before every single operation
00:04:55and at the end of every single operation
00:04:57to make sure that you've checked the boxes
00:04:59for the important stuff that the system needs
00:05:01to make sure the patient has a good result.
00:05:02Now, in our professional lives,
00:05:04in these sort of work environments,
00:05:05like in medicine or in aviation or in like Formula One,
00:05:07the idea of building systems into it is like fairly standard.
00:05:11Like with your job,
00:05:11you probably have systems that you have to follow.
00:05:13Systems for HR, systems for marketing,
00:05:16sales, operations, finance, the whole shebang.
00:05:17Businesses are built on the idea of systems.
00:05:19And I would like to offer for your consideration
00:05:21that we can totally build those sorts of systems
00:05:23into our personal lives as well
00:05:25for pretty much any goal that we wanna work towards.
00:05:27And there is a pretty nice visual
00:05:30that I got from my friend, Jeff Sue,
00:05:31that sort of describes the value of a system.
00:05:34So if you imagine this kind of graph,
00:05:35we've got effort over here.
00:05:37And so this is sort of what the line might look like
00:05:39if you're trying to do stuff without a system to it.
00:05:42Whereas this is what the line looks like
00:05:43if you're trying to do something
00:05:44that does have a system attached to it.
00:05:46It will take a little bit more effort
00:05:47in the initial stages to build the system.
00:05:50But then very quickly,
00:05:51the fact that you are now using a system,
00:05:53i.e. there is a systemized set of actions or processes
00:05:56or steps that you're gonna follow,
00:05:57it takes actually quite a lot of work
00:06:00and quite a lot of effort
00:06:01out of the process of doing the thing.
00:06:02Now, another system that I recommend
00:06:03having work for you on autopilot is your investments,
00:06:06which is where the sponsor of today's video comes in,
00:06:08Trading 212.
00:06:09Trading 212 is an online investment platform
00:06:12that lets you invest in stocks and shares
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00:06:15And my wife and I have actually been using it independently
00:06:17for years, long before they ever sponsored the channel.
00:06:19The platform makes investing super straightforward.
00:06:21There are zero commissions, you can get fractional shares,
00:06:23and there's none of that unnecessary friction
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00:06:37and you travel a lot or you buy things online
00:06:39in different currencies.
00:06:40The card directly integrates
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00:07:08Big thank you to Trading 212 for sponsoring this video.
00:07:10So now let's get back to it.
00:07:11I'll give you a personal example.
00:07:12I was doing weight training when I started out
00:07:14for about five years and I was not following the system.
00:07:16I was going to the gym a couple of times a week
00:07:18when I had the time
00:07:20and I was kind of doing whatever I felt like.
00:07:22I was going with the flow.
00:07:23And sure, this was kind of fun.
00:07:24I'd go to the gym with my friends and stuff,
00:07:26but I made almost no progress in my physique
00:07:28or in my health levels or in any of those things
00:07:30because I wasn't following a system.
00:07:31Recently, I started following a system.
00:07:33I got a personal trainer and he programs my workouts
00:07:35and I see him three times a week at the same time slot.
00:07:37We follow a similar kind of workout plan
00:07:39with progressive overload.
00:07:40There's a system behind the thing.
00:07:42And for the first time in my life,
00:07:43I'm finally seeing progress when I'm actually at the gym
00:07:45because I'm following the system.
00:07:46I'm not just screwing around and making stuff up
00:07:48as I go along and hoping for the best.
00:07:49I'm following a prescribed system
00:07:51that people have already figured out
00:07:52to get to a desired result,
00:07:53which is to try and attempt to get a little bit more jacked
00:07:56and to reduce my visceral fat levels.
00:07:57Let's take another example.
00:07:58Let's say you are starting a business
00:07:59and you're doing sales calls for the first time.
00:08:01Like you're getting on the phone or a Zoom call
00:08:03with your prospects and trying to sell them your product.
00:08:06Not having a system would be hopping on the call,
00:08:09making it up as you go along,
00:08:10just sort of vibing and going with the flow.
00:08:12Having a system means that you would have
00:08:13some kind of sales script that you would follow.
00:08:15You're probably saying a similar thing each time
00:08:17in the opening and in the closing.
00:08:18You have a list of objections that they might say,
00:08:20like, you know, the price is too expensive
00:08:21or I don't have the time or let me think about it.
00:08:23And you have defined responses that you've figured out
00:08:25because you've built a system around it.
00:08:27You have a system for following up with them.
00:08:28Now in that world, the business that follows a system
00:08:31for their sales process is gonna make way more money
00:08:34compared to the noob business that has no system around this
00:08:37because they're just sort of making stuff up as they go along.
00:08:39And this is the core idea behind why systems
00:08:40are way more likely to lead you to success.
00:08:42Because success, if you define it as achieving your goals
00:08:44with balance and enjoyment along the way,
00:08:46is really just about executing on a set of action.
00:08:48Now, if you are making up those actions every time,
00:08:50depending on how you feel,
00:08:52you're a lot less likely to get to any particular goal
00:08:55compared to if you have a system or a set of processes
00:08:58that you're following every time.
00:08:59Now, after all of that opining,
00:09:02I would like to share with you the five systems
00:09:05that I think if you were to incorporate into your life
00:09:07would drastically increase your chances of success.
00:09:09The first system that I think is incredibly helpful
00:09:11is some kind of goal setting system.
00:09:13When it comes to achieving success,
00:09:15having goals is really important
00:09:16because then at least you know what you're aiming for.
00:09:18You don't have to be wedded to the goals.
00:09:19You don't have to be attached to them.
00:09:20You don't have to be upset if you don't manage to achieve
00:09:23a goal in the timeframe that you wanted,
00:09:24but it's so useful to actually have a goal
00:09:26to shoot for in the first place.
00:09:28Now, the way most people do this
00:09:29is sort of like before they have a system,
00:09:31it's sort of like, you know, the new year comes around
00:09:33and they'll sort of vaguely set some new year's resolutions
00:09:36that I wanna stop procrastinating
00:09:37or I wanna go to the gym more often.
00:09:39And they just, they won't have a systematic approach
00:09:42to goal setting.
00:09:43And so what happens is that they start something
00:09:45and they sort of meander a little bit and then they quit
00:09:47or they start something else
00:09:48and they kind of go all over the place and then they quit
00:09:50or they set a goal for something else.
00:09:51And then, you know, they've taken one step and then they quit.
00:09:53And it's all this sort of like general kind of mess
00:09:56when you approach a goal setting
00:09:57as something that you do ad hoc whenever you have the time
00:10:00and you just sort of try and figure it out as you go along.
00:10:03Whereas after you have a system for goal setting
00:10:06and there are lots of them out there,
00:10:07I don't really care which one you use,
00:10:08but you can just Google it or ask Chad GPT or Claude
00:10:10to give you a system for goal setting.
00:10:12I've got my own, it's called the GPS system.
00:10:13There'll be some videos over there
00:10:14somewhere on the channel.
00:10:15But after you have a system for goal setting,
00:10:17you have a systematic process that you can follow
00:10:19every three months or every year
00:10:20or however frequently you wanna do it.
00:10:22And so for example, my process starts with like vision
00:10:24where there's like a life compass section
00:10:26where you figure out like what you actually want your life
00:10:28to look like very long-term and what are your core values
00:10:31and that kind of stuff.
00:10:31Then we turn it into a three-year sketch
00:10:34where you can use like a vision board or something
00:10:36to figure out where do you wanna be three years from now.
00:10:38And then we make quarterly quests,
00:10:40which are like 90 day goals.
00:10:41Again, all of this stuff will be linked down below
00:10:42'cause we've got videos on the channel about all this stuff.
00:10:44So I'm not gonna expand on it in too much detail.
00:10:45And then after we figured out quarterly quests,
00:10:47we have a weekly process of like prioritization
00:10:49and reflection that I call the balanced week blueprint.
00:10:52And you might think that this stuff is a little bit much,
00:10:53but like it doesn't take that long to do.
00:10:55It takes maybe a couple of hours
00:10:57to do like a life compass exercise
00:10:58to really figure out what direction
00:11:00you wanna go with your life.
00:11:00It takes maybe half an hour to do like a vision board,
00:11:02three-year sketch, this is quite a fun thing to do as well.
00:11:05It takes maybe half an hour every quarter
00:11:07to define quarterly quests.
00:11:08And what you're doing with this systematic approach
00:11:10to goal setting is that you're really trying to decide
00:11:13what are the small number of goals
00:11:14I actually want to work towards.
00:11:16And most of us go through life without really stopping back
00:11:19to zoom out a little bit and just actually think about this.
00:11:22It's so easy to get fixated on the day-to-day.
00:11:24We're too busy at work and then we get home
00:11:26and then there's the kids and stuff and whatever,
00:11:28and there's not enough time and not enough energy.
00:11:30And yet, if we just take a few hours once in a while
00:11:33to zoom out and follow a systematic process for goal setting,
00:11:36we are far more likely to end up working towards goals
00:11:38that are intrinsically motivated,
00:11:40goals that we actually want to work towards
00:11:42rather than casually working towards goals
00:11:44that are just a subconscious result
00:11:46of what society has told us or what our parents have told us
00:11:48or what, I don't know,
00:11:49that a previous version of ourself decided to do.
00:11:53The second major system I would really recommend installing
00:11:55into your life is some kind of time management system.
00:11:59And again, I've made videos about this on the channel.
00:12:01They'll be linked down below if you want to check them out.
00:12:02But when it comes to achieving any goal at all,
00:12:05achieving every goal, as we talked about,
00:12:06is a series of actions.
00:12:08And in order to do those actions, we have to do some work.
00:12:11And there are generally three inputs into work
00:12:13and that is time, energy, and focus,
00:12:17assuming you are the one doing the work.
00:12:18If you have a team and you have other team members
00:12:20doing the work, then you have the other metric of money
00:12:22because you're hiring the team
00:12:23and getting them to do the work and stuff.
00:12:24But for the most part, time, energy, and focus
00:12:27are the three fundamental resources that individuals invest
00:12:29in doing work, taking actions to achieve goals,
00:12:32which ultimately, fingers crossed, leads us to success,
00:12:35whatever that definition of success is for us.
00:12:37And on a very basic level,
00:12:39the most important one of these is time.
00:12:41Time is the primary thing
00:12:42because we only have 168 hours every week to do stuff.
00:12:46168 hours.
00:12:48Most of us spend like 56 of those sleeping
00:12:51and maybe another 12 of them eating
00:12:52and going to the toilet and stuff.
00:12:53So what that basically leaves is 100 hours.
00:12:57Nice round number.
00:12:58If you have a job and you have to, I don't know,
00:13:00spend 60 hours, you just, you know,
00:13:02you've literally just got 40 hours left every single week
00:13:04to do all of the things that you wanna do.
00:13:06If you imagine that like most people have a screen time
00:13:08of like six hours a day,
00:13:09all of those 40 hours suddenly disappear.
00:13:11And so you realize very quickly,
00:13:12and maybe if you're the sort of person
00:13:13who watches this channel,
00:13:14and if you're at this point in the video,
00:13:15that like there's actually not that many hours in every week
00:13:19to do all of the things that you wanna do,
00:13:20which means that if we wanna be able to do the work
00:13:22that helps us take the actions that helps us get to our goal,
00:13:24that helps us eventually get to success,
00:13:26we wanna be good at managing our time.
00:13:28And ideally, instead of having to,
00:13:30again, make this up as we go along,
00:13:31ideally we have a system that makes it a lot easier
00:13:33for us to manage our time
00:13:35so that we can make time for the important stuff
00:13:37and to get rid of the stuff that is less important.
00:13:39But there are three key factors
00:13:41that I think everyone should have.
00:13:42Number one, a good time management system
00:13:45involves time blocking,
00:13:47which is basically where you stick blocks in your calendar
00:13:49for the stuff that is important to you.
00:13:51For example, I have a weekly date night with my wife,
00:13:53that is time blocked.
00:13:54I go to the gym three times a week, that is time blocked.
00:13:56I have two filming days a week
00:13:58where I work on YouTube videos,
00:13:59those are time blocked in the calendar.
00:14:00The more you can intentionally decide
00:14:02how you wanna be using your time ahead of time
00:14:05rather than having to make a decision in the moment
00:14:07and then sort of being at the mercy of your mood
00:14:09or your energy levels,
00:14:10the easier it is to reliably do the actions consistently
00:14:12that are gonna get you to your goals.
00:14:14That's not to say that you should have no room
00:14:15for spontaneity,
00:14:16you can totally have free time in the calendar as well
00:14:18where you can just do whatever you want,
00:14:19but in general, the people that are most likely
00:14:21to achieve goals are the ones who actually make the time
00:14:23to achieve those goals, perhaps unsurprisingly.
00:14:25Factor number two that every good time management system
00:14:27should have is a method for prioritization.
00:14:29Now you probably have more things you would like to do
00:14:32compared to the time that you actually have to do them
00:14:34'cause you're probably an ambitious person
00:14:35and you have lots of goals
00:14:36and you wanna live a healthy, balanced life.
00:14:37But as you've probably realized,
00:14:38it's actually impossible to do all the things.
00:14:40And so we need to prioritize
00:14:41what are the few that are the most important.
00:14:43And thirdly, ideally, every good time management system
00:14:45should have some kind of component of reflection
00:14:48where you look at how you've been spending your time,
00:14:50you reflect on it,
00:14:51and then you use that reflection process
00:14:53to adjust your time blocking and prioritization system.
00:14:56For me, I try my best to do a weekly review or reflection.
00:14:59And this is just a series of questions that I ask myself.
00:15:01It takes about 20 minutes
00:15:02and it's a good way of making sure
00:15:03that I'm continually realigning
00:15:04to the goals that I wanna achieve
00:15:06and making changes to my schedule if life happens.
00:15:09System number three
00:15:11that I think would benefit most people in their life
00:15:13is some kind of health optimization
00:15:16or health operating system.
00:15:17I call mine Health OS 'cause it's just kind of cute.
00:15:19And what this is is a system that you can follow
00:15:21on autopilot that gets you to your health goals.
00:15:24So this involves things like sleep and diet and exercise.
00:15:28Now, before you have some kind of system around your health,
00:15:30you sleep roughly whenever you feel tired
00:15:32and you wake up whenever you wanna wake up
00:15:34or with your alarm if you have some kind of work to go to.
00:15:37Your diet is like you're sort of making it up
00:15:39as you go along.
00:15:40Your exercise, you're sort of doing random stuff
00:15:42whenever you can find the time to do the thing.
00:15:44And this is why most people are on average
00:15:46not particularly healthy.
00:15:47But if you're building a system into your life
00:15:48where you're following a set of processes around your sleep,
00:15:51your diet, your exercise,
00:15:52then you're much more likely to be in a better place.
00:15:54So what might be the system for optimizing your sleep?
00:15:56Again, we have done videos about it.
00:15:57I'll link them down below,
00:15:58but getting eight hours a night is generally very helpful.
00:16:01Having the room set to 19 degrees Celsius
00:16:03is generally very helpful.
00:16:04That tends to be the temperature for most people
00:16:06that optimize their sleep.
00:16:07Defining like when you want bedtime to be like,
00:16:09"Hey, I'm gonna sleep 10 p.m. to 6 a.m." or whatever,
00:16:11generally helpful.
00:16:12The more you can stick to a consistent bed and wake time,
00:16:15the more your circadian rhythms actually line up.
00:16:17And so the less likely you are to be tired or groggy
00:16:19or have low energy throughout the day.
00:16:20Of course, there is the classic tip
00:16:21to view morning sunlight as per Andrew Huberman,
00:16:24which is again helpful for in training our circadian rhythm.
00:16:26You've got things like no phone in the bedroom,
00:16:28getting rid of your phone
00:16:29so that you're not like browsing TikTok or Reddit
00:16:31at like two in the morning,
00:16:32which is another thing that would destroy your sleep.
00:16:34I personally like having a Kindle on my bedside table
00:16:36because then if I'm struggling to go to sleep,
00:16:38I can just read like a spirituality book
00:16:39or something on Kindle
00:16:40and that gets me to sleep pretty quickly.
00:16:42If you want, you can use some kind of sleep tracker.
00:16:44I wear a whoop.
00:16:45It's got like, I've been using this for the last like 380 days
00:16:47or something, got a 380 day streak on it.
00:16:49And so this gives me a sleep score.
00:16:50And so generally with any kind of system,
00:16:52having some sort of metric that you can look at
00:16:54to see how effective is your system performing
00:16:56and then being able to sort of adjust your system
00:16:58based on the metric is generally quite helpful.
00:17:00It's not absolutely essential, but for most things,
00:17:02having some way to measure the number
00:17:03actually does genuinely help.
00:17:04And all of these is just a series of steps.
00:17:06And sure, most people don't do all of these things
00:17:08absolutely all the time, but having a system,
00:17:10which is sort of a set of defaults
00:17:12that you're gonna follow most of the time
00:17:14is gonna be way more likely for you to have healthy sleep.
00:17:16And obviously we know that sleep is one of those things
00:17:18that like contributes to every other area of our life.
00:17:20When it comes to diet, if for every single meal,
00:17:22you know, three meals a day for like seven days a week,
00:17:24if every single time you had to figure out
00:17:26what you wanna do in terms of what you're eating
00:17:28or what you're cooking or what you're buying
00:17:29from the grocery store,
00:17:30A, you end up wasting a ton of time
00:17:31in like mental decision fatigue
00:17:33and ordering random takeaways
00:17:35and going to random restaurants
00:17:36and then your calories and macros
00:17:37and all that kind of stuff are off.
00:17:38And then you end up being pretty unhealthy.
00:17:39And so what busy people and especially people with kids
00:17:41tend to find is that actually systemizing
00:17:44the household diet is really, really, really helpful.
00:17:46Like knowing that Tuesdays are like
00:17:48Chinese takeout Tuesdays,
00:17:49knowing that Thursday is a movie night with the kids
00:17:51and therefore we're gonna order pizza.
00:17:53Knowing that like we're gonna meal prep on the Sunday
00:17:55and then batch prepare the breakfast for the whole week
00:17:57and batch prepare the lunches for the whole week
00:17:59so the kids can take them to school
00:18:00or whatever the situation might be.
00:18:02Almost everyone who you consider to be successful
00:18:04probably has some kind of system
00:18:05for their diet and their nutrition.
00:18:07It doesn't have to be fancy.
00:18:08It doesn't have to be private chef levels,
00:18:09but just having a method that you're following,
00:18:11which means you don't have to think about
00:18:13what the hell am I gonna eat for these 21 meals
00:18:15every single week will save you a huge amount of time
00:18:17and also make you weigh healthier.
00:18:19And then of course having some kind of system
00:18:20that you're following for your exercise.
00:18:21What I do personally is weight training three times per week.
00:18:24I try to do 40 minutes of zone two cardio
00:18:26through like casual running about three times a week.
00:18:29I aim to do yoga about one or two times a week
00:18:30for general flexibility and mobility.
00:18:32And of course I aim to get 10,000 steps per day
00:18:35because there's a good amount of evidence
00:18:36that like the more steps you take,
00:18:37the healthier you're gonna be.
00:18:39And so I have a walking treadmill for my desk
00:18:40some of the time as well.
00:18:41And again, this is a system, the gym sessions
00:18:43are in the calendar.
00:18:44The runs should be more systemized for me
00:18:46'cause they're currently not.
00:18:46I kind of make time for running when I have the time,
00:18:49which is why I'm a lot less consistent with this
00:18:50than I am with the gym where it's actually in the calendar.
00:18:52And so if you have some kind of system that you're following,
00:18:54some set of default actions that you're taking every week,
00:18:57your health is far more likely to be good
00:18:59compared to someone who does not have that kind of system.
00:19:02And it's like that phrase goes,
00:19:03"The healthy man has 99 wishes,
00:19:05the unhealthy man has only one."
00:19:06If you are sick or unhealthy,
00:19:08then that is a massive drain on practically every other area
00:19:11of your life as well.
00:19:12And so you might as well follow some kind of system.
00:19:14Again, if you're not sure, just ask Chad TPT,
00:19:16watch some YouTube tutorials for like,
00:19:17and it doesn't have to be fancy,
00:19:18but it does take a lot of the guesswork
00:19:20and a lot of the mental decision fatigue
00:19:22out of the process of keeping on top of your health.
00:19:25System number four that I think everyone would benefit from
00:19:27is some kind of system to keep on top of the relationships
00:19:31that matter to you the most.
00:19:32Now this is where it can sometimes sound weird being like,
00:19:34"Why would you build a system for relationships?
00:19:36Relationships shouldn't be systemized."
00:19:37That's just not true.
00:19:38Like if you ask any like marriage counselor
00:19:41or marriage therapist or read any book
00:19:42about what makes a successful marriage,
00:19:44actually what a lot of it comes down to is systems,
00:19:47making sure you have a weekly date night
00:19:49and that it's in the calendar
00:19:50and that both parties know that it happens
00:19:52every Sunday evening, for example.
00:19:54That is an example of a system.
00:19:55Doing something like regular relationship reviews,
00:19:58maybe once a month where you and the spouse
00:19:59or you and your partner sit down
00:20:01and actually reflect on the state of your relationship.
00:20:02And if there's any like minor grievances
00:20:04that you haven't had a chance to bring up
00:20:05and you talk about those things.
00:20:06Again, it sounds weird, but it's incredibly helpful.
00:20:09Me and my wife were seeing a relationship therapist
00:20:10before we got married,
00:20:11just 'cause I got some advice from a friend
00:20:13saying that like relationship therapists are amazing.
00:20:15And he recommended we do relationship reviews.
00:20:17We read a couple of books
00:20:18about how to have a successful marriage
00:20:19that also were bullish on relationship reviews.
00:20:21This is a way of systemizing your relationship
00:20:23so that you do the sensible things
00:20:25without having to think too hard about them.
00:20:27As you become super busy at work,
00:20:28it's generally very helpful to block out holidays in advance.
00:20:31So a lot of the most successful entrepreneurs I know
00:20:33really, really take their personal life
00:20:34and their relationships very seriously.
00:20:36And so at the start of the year,
00:20:37before they do any of their business planning,
00:20:38they will block out in the calendar,
00:20:40"Okay, this is holiday with the spouse.
00:20:42This is holiday with the kids.
00:20:43This is, we're gonna take all of August off for a sabbatical."
00:20:45Because if you don't block all of that stuff out in advance,
00:20:47then the work and life commitments
00:20:50will just sort of fill the gaps.
00:20:51And so you gotta be intentional
00:20:52about blocking this stuff out in advance.
00:20:54This is building a system around your relationships.
00:20:56The most social people I know
00:20:57are not just randomly going to social events,
00:21:00especially once they become adults
00:21:01and start having kids and start becoming busy.
00:21:03They start doing standing order social events.
00:21:05One of my friends, Nat,
00:21:06who's very intentional about relationships.
00:21:07He was like living in Austin for a few years.
00:21:09And so he and his wife set up a weekly meetup
00:21:12at the local lake.
00:21:13Anyone was invited,
00:21:13so they just invited all their friends.
00:21:15They're like, "Hey, we're gonna be at this lake
00:21:168 a.m. every Saturday morning.
00:21:18And then we're gonna go for breakfast afterwards.
00:21:20If you can make it, come join us."
00:21:21And they did this every single week for four years.
00:21:23And this was an amazing way for them
00:21:25to maintain relationships and friendships with people
00:21:27that they already knew.
00:21:28And also it was a fantastic way to get to know new people
00:21:30because new people would be like,
00:21:32"Oh, I mean, my friend Johnny's in town.
00:21:33Let's bring him along to this standing order social event,
00:21:35this 8 a.m. every Saturday lake meetup."
00:21:38So there's things like that that you can do
00:21:39that systemize the stuff that you wanna do
00:21:41in your social life as well.
00:21:43This is the value of like a monthly book club
00:21:45or a weekly lads video game night
00:21:47or monthly movie night with your friends.
00:21:49And especially when people get busy.
00:21:51Like if you're watching this and you're young
00:21:52and you're like, "Holy shit, I can't believe,
00:21:54like why do you have to stick a calendar event
00:21:56for hanging out with your friends?"
00:21:57If you're watching this and you're above the age of 25,
00:21:59you know that you're busy, your friends are busy,
00:22:01especially if you're watching this and you have kids
00:22:03or your friends have kids.
00:22:04Man, it's such a total fricking nightmare
00:22:06trying to schedule people and get them together,
00:22:08which is why having a system around it
00:22:10can really, really help.
00:22:11And I don't know if it's a thing in the rest of the world,
00:22:12but in the UK, there's like a real tradition
00:22:14of like sending physical Christmas cards
00:22:16to the people that you know.
00:22:17And so we really suck at this, but like I've got some friends
00:22:19who are really good at sending an annual Christmas card.
00:22:21And it's amazing how such a small thing
00:22:23can actually sustain a friendship for decades and decades
00:22:26because you know you've got this annual touch point
00:22:28where you just send a nice handwritten Christmas card.
00:22:30Maybe there's a photo of the family.
00:22:31Maybe there's a bit of an update about what you're up to.
00:22:33And there is a system around this.
00:22:35The people that remember birthdays,
00:22:36they probably don't have the birthday in your head.
00:22:38They probably have it in their calendar.
00:22:39And the people I know
00:22:40who are the most thoughtful about birthdays
00:22:42not only have your birthday in the calendar,
00:22:44but they'll have a recurring event
00:22:45every year in their to-do list
00:22:47that like two weeks before the birthday reminds them that,
00:22:50"Hey, are these birthdays coming up on whatever?"
00:22:52And so they'll start thinking about the gift or the card
00:22:54and stuff like two weeks in advance.
00:22:55All of these are different examples
00:22:56of systemizing your relationships
00:22:58so that it takes the guesswork out of it.
00:22:59It takes the mental decision fatigue out of it.
00:23:01And ultimately it nudges you towards doing the actions
00:23:04that you know are gonna make it more likely
00:23:05that you achieve your goal.
00:23:06In this case, it's to maintain a good relationship
00:23:09with your spouse and kids and friends and family and stuff.
00:23:12The final system I wanna talk about in this video,
00:23:15and we could talk about this for absolutely ever
00:23:17because I love this stuff.
00:23:18This would be some kind of system around what do you do
00:23:20by default when your paycheck comes in,
00:23:22assuming you have a job or assuming you have a business.
00:23:24And in general, most personal finance advisors and gurus
00:23:27and stuff who like think about this stuff a lot
00:23:29and advise people about it,
00:23:30talk about building a system to put your finances
00:23:33on autopilot as much as possible.
00:23:35So the people that end up not saving or investing any money
00:23:38are the ones who get the paycheck
00:23:40and then they do whatever they want with it.
00:23:42And then they're like, "Hey, yeah, at some point,
00:23:44if there's any leftover, then I'll invest it
00:23:46or then I'll save it."
00:23:47That often never works
00:23:48because there is often very little leftover.
00:23:50Let's say this is your monthly paycheck.
00:23:51As soon as the paycheck comes in, automatically,
00:23:54some percentage of it is set aside for savings.
00:23:56And it goes into a savings account, for example.
00:23:59Automatically, some percentage of it is set aside
00:24:01for investments and it automatically goes
00:24:04into the investment account via Robinhood or the Roth IRA
00:24:06or whatever the system is, depending on your country.
00:24:09Some percentage of it is automatically set aside for tax.
00:24:12If you are in a country or in a situation
00:24:14where you have to pay your own taxes.
00:24:16Some is automatically set aside for bills.
00:24:19And then you know that you can kind of do whatever you want
00:24:22with the rest because at least the basics
00:24:24that are gonna keep you out of prison
00:24:25and that are gonna grow your financial nest egg
00:24:27have been taken care of.
00:24:28This is an example of a personal finance system.
00:24:30It is a series of actions or steps
00:24:32that you do every time you get your paycheck
00:24:33that reduces the need for guesswork.
00:24:35And if you can automate as much of this as possible,
00:24:37it means that you don't even have to make the decision
00:24:39every single time 'cause it automatically goes
00:24:41into the savings account and the investment account
00:24:42and the bills account and the tax account.
00:24:44And then you know what's left over.
00:24:45Whereas if this is not automated, then every single month
00:24:48you have to actively make the decisions.
00:24:49And the problem with actively making decisions
00:24:51is that we generally make decisions emotionally
00:24:53rather than logically.
00:24:54Even though we like to think of ourselves
00:24:55as logical creatures, actually like 99% of our decisions
00:24:58are made purely based on emotion.
00:25:00And because our emotions are like fluctuate,
00:25:03if we're feeling great and the paycheck hits,
00:25:05then fantastic, we might be in a be living in line
00:25:07with our future self and like putting stuff
00:25:09into savings and investments.
00:25:10But if we're not feeling great and the paycheck comes in,
00:25:12we might be doing a lot less sensible things
00:25:14when it comes to our money.
00:25:15And so what a system does is that it removes the need
00:25:17for you to make that decision every single time.
00:25:19You make the decision ahead of time, you set it and forget it.
00:25:22And that tends to be how the people that succeed
00:25:23at saving and investing through the mechanism
00:25:26of something like a regular paycheck,
00:25:27they tend to have some kind of system around it.
00:25:29Now, hopefully this video has convinced you
00:25:30that it's very helpful to have systems around your personal
00:25:33and professional life to help you achieve your goals.
00:25:35And if you're interested in learning more
00:25:36about the specific system that I've developed
00:25:38around goal setting, then there'll be a video right over here
00:25:40which is about the GPS method.
00:25:42Now GPS stands for goal plan and system.
00:25:44So it's another video that's about systems,
00:25:45but it will go into much more detail
00:25:46about specifically how to set goals, how to create plans
00:25:49and then how to build systems to make sure
00:25:51you actually stick to the plan.
00:25:52So that'll be right over there.
00:25:53And thank you so much for watching.
00:25:54I will see you over there, bye bye.