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 focus must be on the proactive management of systems, not on coping with random system results.

The root cause of the turnaround was the discovery and application of the principle that management must focus on improving systems, not in performing the work or in repeatedly snuffing out brushfires. In short, quality products or services, a stable staff, and profitability are the result of the quality systems that produce them, not the reverse.

I didn’t understand that peace and prosperity arrive after the mechanics are in order. This requires forethought, organization, and rational thinking, and that means well-attended systems. The way of the world is mechanical!

Who knows what that voice mail–inundated young man does for a living, but I tell you this: He is mismanaging things if his world can’t proceed for a single week without his direct influence; if the myriad systems in which he is involved all come to a halt when he is not available.

The pathway to control—to eliminating chaos—is to discover, examine, optimize, and then manage your mechanical and biological systems. The dictionary’s definition of system is “a group

A life’s mechanical functioning is a result of the systems that compose it.

Few people think their problems are a result of system failure. Most see their troubles as isolated events, blaming fate, horoscopes, bad luck, karma, God, the devil, neighbors, competitors, family members, the weather, the president, Congress, liberals, conservatives, global warming, too much TV, lack of money, too much money, the educational syst

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