Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

Each thing we do is a component of a system. We are not balls in a pinball machine randomly bouncing around at the mercy of our surroundings.

The mantra of the Work the System method is to isolate-fix-maintain. It is not enough to know what to do. One must take action.

getting things right most of the time is good enough. The part that doesn’t come out well is just part of the overhead: the cost of doing business, of taking risks, of external confusion, of coping with a changing world that is sometimes one step ahead of your best efforts, of being alive.

It’s not “the system” that holds us back; it’s the flaw in our perception.

Freedom and wealth occur after the mechanics are in place.

First, I would create the Strategic Objective, which would define us and set goals. Second, I would put together the General Operating Principles, which would serve as our guidelines for making decisions. Third, we would write out our Working Procedures, which would exactly define every recurring process of the business.

In other words, the business systems I would fix and/or create would have to function without direct moment-to-moment supervision by me, the majority owner, general manager, and CEO of the company.

most see problems as overwhelming in number: an onslaught from “out there,” only to be fended off by superhuman efforts.

The world is not a chaotic jumble of people, objects, and events clanging together in disarray. The world is a place of order and logic, a place of predictability. The world is a collection of logical systems!