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Lessons - Why Working Hard is Making You Poor · Success Story with Scott Clary

0:00
So today I want to talk about paradox of scaling through an action.
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This is a topic that I spoke about a few weeks ago in a newsletter and it really hit home
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and a lot of people loved it so I thought it'd be good to just put it into words and
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do a little bit of a video podcast about it but ultimately it was about why smart people
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build systems.
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I want to paint a picture for you.
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Let me know if this sounds familiar.
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You wake up in the morning, you're alarms blaring but when you wake up in the morning you
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already feel like a little bit behind.
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So you rush to gulp down your coffee, you do a cold plunge, you sauna, you gym, you
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meditate, you journal, you rush to work, you dive into this never ending to do list.
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And this is how even if you feel like you have control of your life and you feel like
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you're this productivity guru and you've listened to all the YouTube videos and you've
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listened to all the podcasts.
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It feels like you're still running behind.
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So this scenario that I just described, it sounds familiar, I'm guessing to a lot of
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people, especially people that follow me on this podcast and follow me on YouTube because
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everybody here is about self improvement.
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But what I just described is this productivity cult and if this resonates with you, you are
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a card carrying member of this productivity cult.
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Here's a news flash.
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If you are doing all of this, you are not actually being productive.
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You're just being busy and busy is the enemy of truly scaling your impact.
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Some of the things I just mentioned, it's okay to do those.
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But ultimately, if you feel like everything's a rush and you never actually have time
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to do the things that you actually enjoyed because there's another list of things that
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you have to take care of, you hopefully, after listening to this, will become aware of
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the dark side of always hustling, of always on.
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The rise in grind mentality isn't just unhealthy, it's downright dangerous.
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It's this modern day cult that has convinced you that your worth is tied to how many hours
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you work, how many emails you send, how little sleep you got, how much that you've compressed
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into this finite amount of time.
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But guess what, while you're busy, patting yourself on the back for pulling another
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all-nighter or only sleeping four hours, the truly successful people are getting eight
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hours of sleep and they're letting their systems do the heavy lifting.
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Think about it.
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Elon Musk, he might tweet about working a hundred hour weeks, but he's not the one building
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the Teslas or launching the rockets.
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He's built systems that do that for him.
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Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading and thinking, this is not exactly what you'd
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call hustling.
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Jeff Bezos makes a few high-level decisions a day, but he lets Amazon's vast systems
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handle the rest.
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Of course, these people are all mission critical, they're all figureheads, they all work a lot,
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but they've built systems to allow themselves to scale their impact.
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The hustle mentality is keeping you small, it's keeping you focused on tasks instead of
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impact, and honestly, it is time to break free.
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Let's talk about this productivity cult, which is really just modern, indentured servitude.
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Here's a very harsh truth.
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Your obsession with productivity is making you a really efficient cog in someone else's
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machine.
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You are not maximizing your output, you are maximizing your exploitation.
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Every time you pride yourself on inbox zero or staying late at the office, you're essentially
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saying, please, sir, may I have another task.
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You're volunteering to be a hamster on a wheel running faster and faster, but going nowhere.
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Real freedom, real success comes from building systems that work for you, not the other way
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around.
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Here's an example.
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Look at your to-do list, and go ahead, I'll wait.
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Take it out.
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Now, let me tell you what that list really is.
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It is a monument to your failures.
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It is a constant reminder of all the things you haven't done yet, and the worst part in
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never ends.
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You cross off three items and add five more.
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I know people who have finished items and tasks, and they add it to their to-do list just
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so they can cross it off.
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Where's the meaning in this?
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Your to-do list isn't a productivity tool.
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It is an anxiety generating machine.
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The most successful people in the world don't have long to-do lists.
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They have short, high impact, priority lists or time blocks and systems that handle the
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rest.
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So, how do you escape this cycle of busyness, masquerading this productivity?
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It starts with a mindset shift.
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First, you have to stop glorifying busyness.
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Being busy isn't a badge of honor.
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It's a sign that you don't know how to prioritize or delegate.
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Two, you have to focus on impact, not activity.
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Ask yourself, is this task actually moving the needle?
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Or am I just staying busy?
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Three, embrace strategic laziness.
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Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is nothing.
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Give yourself permission to think, to strategize, to let your systems work for you.
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Four, build systems, not to-do lists.
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Instead of writing down tasks, start thinking about how you can create a system that eliminates
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the need for that task altogether.
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Remember, the goal isn't to do more.
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It's to achieve more.
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And that happens when you step off the hamster wheel and start building systems that were
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harder than you ever could.
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Let's dive into an even deeper concept.
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Let's go deeper into the counterintuitive world of true productivity.
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It's time to talk about leverage.
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And why your understanding of it is probably all wrong.
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So let's unpack leverage.
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When most people hear the word leverage, they think of financial leverage.
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Or maybe using a tool to move a heavy object.
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It's kind of like the dictionary definition of leverage.
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But in the world of scalable success, leverage is something far more powerful and far more misunderstood.
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True leverage is about creating systems where your input is minimal, but your output is
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maximal.
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It's about building machines that work for you 24-7, even when you're sleeping, vacationing,
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or doing absolutely nothing.
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The most powerful forms of leverage often look like inaction to the untrained eye.
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So let's get a little bit nerdy for a second to go a little bit deeper.
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Most people, and we're going to talk about leverage and impact.
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And let's talk about it from the lens of linear impact versus exponential impact and obviously
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to achieve exponential impact.
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This is where you're going to include leverage.
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But let's get a little nerdy for a second.
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Most people operate on a linear scale.
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Work one hour, get one hours worth of results, write one email, get one person's attention,
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get one sales call, maybe get one sale for lucky.
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But the real players, the people who are achieving massive things, they're operating exponentially.
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You spend one hour building a system, you get a thousand hours of work done automatically.
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You write one blog post, it reaches millions of people over years.
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You create one product, you sell it infinitely with minimal additional effort.
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This is why Jeff Bezos can make a few key decisions a day while Amazon generates billions.
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It's why a software developer can write code once and have itself problems for thousands
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of users continuously.
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You're not playing the same game as these people.
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You're not even in the same league, but you could be.
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So let's look at some examples that'll sort of make your hustle look like child's play.
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Let's talk about passive income pioneers, Pat Flynn, a smart passive income.
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He built systems that generate hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly, mostly through
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affiliate marketing and digital products.
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And his primary quote-unquote work right now, it's thinking of new ideas and occasionally
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updating his systems.
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Software.
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Mark has frined, famously ran plenty of fish, one of the largest dating sites in the
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world, working only a few hours a week.
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How?
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By building robust algorithms and systems that ran themselves.
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Like creators, Mr. Beast, one of YouTube's biggest stars, spends months planning videos
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to take days to film, but generates millions in revenue for years.
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And his leverage, its creative systems that turn ideas into viral content machines.
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Investors, Warren Buffett's greatest skill is in picking stocks.
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It's building a system, birks your half away, that automatically and autonomously allocates
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capital and compounds wealth.
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His primary job is reading and thinking.
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You notice a pattern here, none of these people are working 80 hour weeks.
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They're not hustling in the traditional sense.
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They're thinking, they're planning, they're letting their systems do the heavy lifting.
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And you can spend 80 hours a week reading, strategizing, that's okay if you enjoy it.
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But it's not hustling in the sense of they're the ones that are doing all the activities
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associated with their business.
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Here's where it gets a little bit mind bending and a little bit more counterintuitive or
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contrarian.
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Often when you are building a business, when you're trying to scale your impact, even
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in your job, the most impactful thing you can do is nothing, what do I mean by that?
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By not immediately responding to every email, you train people to respect your time and
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solve problems independently.
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By not jumping on every opportunity, you leave room for truly golden chances to come
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your way.
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And by not constantly tinkering with your systems, you allow them to run at full efficiency
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and gather meaningful data.
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This isn't laziness, it's strategic in action.
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It's understanding that sometimes the void you create by doing less is filled by opportunities
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and efficiencies you would have never discovered otherwise.
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So this plus systems thinking plus leverage, now you can see how it's all coming together
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to make you the most efficient version of yourself.
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So how do you start leveraging this paradox?
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How do we start including all these sort of counterintuitive, contrarian ideas?
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It starts with a fundamental shift in how you view your role in your company or your business.
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The first thing, the first thing you have to rethink is that you have to stop being
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a doer and you have to start being a designer.
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Your job isn't to do tasks, it's to design systems that do tasks.
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The second thing you have to do is invest time in thinking and planning.
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The most valuable work often looks like staring at a window lost in thought.
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The third thing you have to do is automate ruthlessly.
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If a task can be done by a machine or an algorithm, it should be.
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The fourth thing, build once, benefit infinitely.
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Focus on creating assets and systems that can be used repeatedly without additional effort.
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Fifth thing, embrace strategic procrastination.
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Sometimes problems solve themselves if you wait long enough, give space for this to happen.
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Remember, the goal isn't to fill your time with productive tasks, it's to create systems
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of such leverage that you become nearly irrelevant to their ongoing operation.
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Now, let's talk about systems thinking, sort of the art of lazy success.
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Because if you made it this far, congratulations.
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You're ready to leave this hamster wheel behind and enter the world of systems thinking.
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This is truly where the magic happens.
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I've touched on this briefly, but I'll go a little bit deeper.
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Systems thinking is where real scalability and leverage are born.
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But a little bit of a warning, this can make you look a little bit lazy to the uninitiated.
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But that's the goal, right?
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We want to remove ourselves from the process.
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So why do systems and systems thinking beat, for example, goals?
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Because in our business, we've all been taught to set goals,
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smart goals, stretch goals, five-year plans.
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The self-help industry is built on this stuff.
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But here's a dirty secret they don't want you to know.
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Goals are for amateurs, systems are for pros.
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Here's why.
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If you are going to build anything meaningful,
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if you're going to adopt all the ideas we've just discussed,
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goals are not going to get you there.
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Goals are finite, systems are infinite.
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When you achieve a goal, you're done.
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But a good system keeps producing results indefinitely.
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That's why you have to think systems, not goals.
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Goals rely on willpower, systems become habits.
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Willpower is a finite resource.
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Systems once established, they run on autopilot.
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Goals are about the destination.
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Systems are about the journey.
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And guess what?
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The journey never ends if you're truly scaling.
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Goals create a yo-yo effect.
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Systems create consistent progress.
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If you miss a goal and you're quote-unquote behind,
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well, it's going to go up, you're going to go down.
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A good system keeps turning out results.
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Good days, bad days, it doesn't matter.
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Scott Adams, he's the creator of Dilbert, has a great quote on this.
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The way that he says it is,
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losers have goals, winners have systems.
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Very straightforward.
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Now, great, we figured out systems thinking.
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Now let's talk about exponential growth.
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I alluded to this before as well.
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This is where systems really shine.
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So a well-designed system in your life, in your business,
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it doesn't just work, it improves itself over time.
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Think about it.
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A workout routine doesn't just keep you fit.
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It makes each subsequent workout more effective.
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Easier.
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A content creation system doesn't just produce great content,
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it builds an audience that makes future content more impactful.
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A learning system doesn't just add knowledge,
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it improves your ability to learn,
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making future learning faster and more efficient.
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So this is the real secret of the ultra-successful.
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They're not just working harder than you.
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In fact, they aren't working harder than you at all.
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This is the real secret of the ultra-successful.
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They're not working harder than you.
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Their systems are just compounding faster than yours.
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So how do you start thinking in systems
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so you can achieve this exponential growth?
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It is a true paradigm shift,
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but here are some key principles.
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When you think in systems,
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you're going to look for patterns,
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not isolated events.
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If you find yourself doing something more than once,
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that's a system waiting to be optimized.
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You're going to focus on inputs, not outputs.
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So you can control outputs and outcomes directly,
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but you can control the systems
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that lead to those outcomes.
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You're going to start to embrace feedback loops.
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So a good system has built-in mechanisms for improvement,
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and it learns from its own performance.
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You're going to think long-term.
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A task is about today,
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but a system is about forever.
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You're going to seek scalability.
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You're going to always ask yourself
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this thing that I'm doing.
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How can this work without my direct involvement?
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So let's take a look at some examples
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to really drive this home.
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And let's call it task thinking versus systems thinking.
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Task thinking is what most people do right now,
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where they're just looking at achieving a goal
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or accomplishing a thing.
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Systems thinking is obviously what we just described.
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So task thinking.
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An example of task thinking would be,
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I need to post on social media today.
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Systems thinking would be,
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I need a content calendar and a scheduling tool
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that ensures that I'm consistently engaging with my audience.
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Task thinking would be,
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I need to make 20 calls today.
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I need to close some deals.
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Systems thinking would be,
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I need a lead generation and nurturing system
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that consistently fills my pipeline
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with qualified prospects.
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Task thinking would be,
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I need to learn this new skill from my job.
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Systems thinking would be,
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I need a personal knowledge management system
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that continuously expands my skill set
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and makes learning a habitual part of my workflow.
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There's a very big difference.
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It's very obvious to see.
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Systems thinkers aren't focused on today's to-do list.
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They're focused on creating machines
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that make the to-do list obsolete.
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Now, let's get meta for a second.
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The ultimate form of systems thinking
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is creating systems that create other systems.
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This is where true scalability lies.
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This is where true exponential growth lies.
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For a second, I want you to imagine a business system
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that not only generates profit,
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but also identifies new market opportunities
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and spins up new businesses to capture them,
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or a learning system
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that not only helps you acquire knowledge,
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but also generates new learning techniques
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tailored to your evolving cognitive style,
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or a networking system
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that not only connects with valuable contacts,
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but also trains those contacts to become nodes,
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or a networking system that not only
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connects you with valuable contacts,
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but also trains those contacts
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to become nodes in their own networking systems
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exponentially expanding your reach.
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This is thinking at a level
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that most people never reach.
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It's not about just building a machine.
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It's about building a machine that builds machines.
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This is where we would eventually like to go to,
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however, baby steps.
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So at this point, you might be thinking
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this all sounds great,
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but it could also sound kind of lazy.
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You're trying to remove yourself and you're right.
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It is lazy, strategically lazy.
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All of this is strategically lazy.
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The most successful people in the world
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look lazy to be uninitiated.
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They're not running around putting out fires.
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They're not drowning in busy work.
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You look at Elon, he's playing video games
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and going on press tours
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and he's speaking, he was speaking at Trump's conference
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in the middle of the day,
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on a whatever day of the week in Pennsylvania.
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So he has a lot of free time.
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How do you think he has free time?
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Well, rewind and play from the beginning.
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That's how he has free time.
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The people that look the most successful
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and are the most successful,
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they're often found thinking,
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reading or seemingly doing nothing at all
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because they have time.
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They've built systems that use leverage
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to get their time back, their life back.
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But don't get it, don't get it twisted.
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Their systems are working tirelessly,
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even when they're not.
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This is the art of lazy success.
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It's about front loading your effort
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into building systems so robust and efficient
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that they don't need your constant attention to function.
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It's about being the laziest hard worker, you know.
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All right, so at this point,
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you're sold on the idea of system thinking,
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you're ready to become this strategic sloth,
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a lazy genius, a productivity paradox,
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but how do you actually do it?
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All right, so you're sold on the idea of systems thinking
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if you're still listening at this point,
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you're ready to become this strategic sloth,
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this lazy genius, basically a productivity paradox.
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But how do you actually do it?
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How do you start building these magical systems
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that work harder than you ever could?
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So this is the actual playbook.
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First up, you identify your current time sucks
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and energy drains.
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So before you can build efficient systems,
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you need to know where you're wasting time and energy.
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But here's a twist.
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You're not just looking for obvious time wasteers
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like scrolling social media.
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We're looking for sneaky productivity traps
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that masquerade as important work.
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So I want you to ask yourself,
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what tasks do I repeat often?
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What decisions am I constantly making?
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Where do I feel like I'm always playing ketchup?
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What quote unquote urgent issues keep derailing my day?
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These are your system opportunities.
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Each repetitive task, each recurring decision
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is a chance to build a system that works for you.
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Step two, the art of strategic procrastination.
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Now, here's where we flip the script
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on traditional productivity advice.
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Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing.
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Strategic procrastination isn't about being lazy.
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It's about giving problems time to solve themselves
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or for better solutions to emerge.
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Here's how to procrastinate strategically.
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When a non-urgent request comes in,
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wait 24 to 48 hours before responding.
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Often the issue resolves itself.
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For complex problems, sleep on it.
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Your subconscious often solves problems while you rest.
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And before starting a new project,
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you also want to ask yourself,
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what would happen if I didn't do this at all?
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Remember, every task you eliminate is better
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than any task you optimize.
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I'm gonna say that one more time.
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Every task you eliminate is better than just optimizing it.
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If you don't have to do it, don't do it.
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Step three, designing feedback loops
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that improve your systems without your intervention.
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So this holy grail of systems thinking
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is creating systems that improve themselves.
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This is what we spoke about before.
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Here's how to actually start doing it.
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One, you want to build measurement in your system
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so you can improve what you don't measure.
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Two, create automated triggers.
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So when certain conditions are met,
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your system should automatically adjust.
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So for, I'll give you a real example.
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If you're posting on social
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or if your team is posting on social,
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and you notice a certain type of content is doing better,
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they should create more of that content.
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It's very simple.
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But have that KPI or that metric built into your system.
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Three, use A, B testing.
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Have your systems randomly tried different approaches
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and stick with what works best.
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It's another way to improve it.
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And then four, implement machine learning if possible.
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Little bit more advanced, but AI tools
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can really optimize systems way better than humans can
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and much quicker in many cases.
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I'll give you a couple more examples.
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An email marketing system that automatically adjusts
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send times based on open rights.
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A content creation system that uses AI to generate
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multiple headlines and automatically selects
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the best performing one, a personal finance system
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that automatically adjusts your budget based
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on spending patterns and financial goals.
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So just a few ideas.
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The fourth step is to leverage other people's time
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and skills, of course, ethically.
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So true leverage, which is a key component in systems
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thinking, often comes from other people
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because there are actually four kinds of leverage.
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This will not be a conversation for today's podcast and video.
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But the four kinds of leverage are people, finance,
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technology, and media.
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So people are one of those four kinds of leverage.
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So true leverage can come from other people.
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But we're not talking about traditional delegation here.
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We're talking about creating systems that allow others
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to contribute to your goals while pursuing their own.
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So what do I mean by that?
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Here's a few ideas.
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Create a knowledge base that allows your team
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to solve problems without your input.
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Build a community around your product or service
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where users help each other.
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They can also evangelize your product.
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You can use platforms like Fiverr, Mechanical Turk, Upwork,
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to create systems for tasks that require human input.
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The key is to create win-win systems
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where others are incentivized to contribute to your goals.
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The fifth step, creating, set it, and forget
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it processes that scale.
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So the ultimate lazy system is one that once set up
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requires minimal ongoing input from you.
23:52
Here's how to create a lazy system.
23:55
You're going to automate ruthlessly.
23:56
So you're going to use tools like Zapier, IFTTT,
23:59
or even custom scripts to connect
24:01
different parts of your workflow.
24:03
You're going to create decision trees.
24:05
So for any process that requires decisions,
24:07
you want to create a flow chart that others or algorithms
24:10
can follow so you don't have to be involved in the decisions.
24:13
You're going to build redundancies.
24:14
Your system should have backup plans for when things go wrong.
24:17
And then you're going to use the if-then frameworks.
24:20
You want to set up automatic responses
24:22
to common situations.
24:23
For example, if website traffic drops below X,
24:26
then automatically increase add spend by Y.
24:30
If customer has an engagement 30 days,
24:33
then trigger a re-engagement email sequence.
24:36
If project is 20% over budget, then alert management
24:40
and pause non-essential spending.
24:42
So you get it.
24:43
This is again, all part of the game.
24:44
And then ultimately, I mean, we're in the age of AI right now
24:48
and the ultimate lazy system is your own AI assistant
24:51
where you're honestly just replicating you
24:53
because we are living in the age of AI
24:56
and not leveraging it is like trying to chop down a forest
24:59
with the butter knife when you have a chainsaw right next to you.
25:02
Doesn't make any sense.
25:03
So out of all the things we've talked about,
25:05
you should also consider creating your own AI assistant.
25:08
Using GPT models or some other AI tools
25:11
and the assistant can draft emails and responses
25:13
based on your communication style.
25:16
It can generate content ideas, even rough drafts.
25:19
It can analyze data, provide some insights
25:21
and it can help with coding and problem solving.
25:22
But the key is to create prompts and workflows
25:25
that allows the AI to operate as an extension
25:28
of your own thinking process.
25:29
So even your thinking is augmented to a degree.
25:32
Now, let's put this all together
25:34
because there's a lot of concepts here.
25:36
So a very simple playbook for this
25:40
because we've gone through all the different reasons
25:43
why you should develop systems, systems thinking,
25:47
use leverage.
25:48
I've spoken about the five steps to actually do this.
25:52
But if we're gonna put it together
25:53
and sort of summarize it in a nice concise blueprint,
25:56
immediate steps that you should take right after listening
25:59
to this podcast or if you're watching it on YouTube,
26:02
this is what you would do.
26:04
So, and this is what you would do in your business.
26:07
You could also do it in your job to a degree.
26:10
Obviously you wanna make sure that what you're doing
26:11
is compliant with what your organization says,
26:14
but you can also deploy these strategies
26:16
and use these strategies in your job.
26:18
For sure, so you can get more done
26:19
and focus on work that matters.
26:21
So step one, this is what you're gonna immediately do.
26:23
You're gonna map out your current workflows
26:25
and you're gonna identify system opportunities.
26:27
Step two, for each opportunity you're gonna ask
26:29
how can I make this happen without my direct involvement.
26:33
Step three, you're gonna build measurement
26:35
and feedback loops into each system.
26:37
Step four, you're gonna automate what you can,
26:39
delegate what you can.
26:41
Step five, you're gonna create decision trees
26:43
and then frameworks for complex processes.
26:45
Step six, you're gonna leverage AI and other people's skills
26:48
to extend your capabilities.
26:50
Step seven, you're gonna continuously refine
26:51
and optimize based on feedback and results.
26:55
Remember, the goal isn't to work hard.
26:57
It's a set up systems that make hard work unnecessary.
27:01
There is one last thing that I do have to address.
27:03
Sudo systems.
27:05
Okay, so I have to give you congratulations.
27:08
You've made it to the final stretch.
27:10
You are armed.
27:11
By this point, you're armed with the knowledge
27:12
of systems thinking you are ready to go build
27:15
your lazy empire, but before you go off
27:19
and start quote unquote optimizing everything in sight,
27:22
I need to talk about the dark side of systems,
27:26
which are pseudo systems.
27:27
So these are kind of like wolves and sheep's clothing.
27:31
The busy work masquerading as productivity.
27:35
The time sucks.
27:36
They promise efficiency, but deliver complexity.
27:39
So let's pull back the curtain on these imposters
27:41
and really learn how to differentiate
27:43
and ultimately avoid them.
27:44
So the one thing I wanna talk about
27:46
is why a lot of productivity systems
27:49
that you may know before you watch this
27:52
or listen to this are just glorified to-do lists.
27:56
The issue with the productivity industry
27:58
is that it's worth billions of dollars
28:00
and it's built on a lie.
28:02
That being busy equals being productive.
28:05
Let's dissect some popular quote unquote systems
28:08
that are actually keeping you trapped in a hamster wheel.
28:12
So the first one I hesitated to put this in,
28:14
but I think it's important to speak about
28:17
because so many people fall into a trap.
28:20
So the first thing that I've an issue with
28:22
is the Pomodoro Technique.
28:23
And I've even spoken about it before,
28:24
but the Pomodoro Technique is only meant
28:28
to help you focus, but people use it as this productivity tool.
28:32
It's not a productivity tool.
28:34
It does not eliminate work.
28:36
It just chops it into these little
28:39
tomato shaped bite-sized pieces.
28:42
People are using it as productivity.
28:43
It's a focus tool.
28:45
Second thing, inbox zero.
28:47
Congratulations, you achieved inbox zero.
28:49
What is inbox zero if you don't know
28:50
it means at the end of every night,
28:52
you've basically opened or answered or replied to
28:54
or archived or deleted every single email.
28:56
So when you wake up in the morning,
28:57
you have nothing in your inbox, inbox zero.
29:00
If you try and achieve this
29:01
and I've done this myself for many years,
29:04
congratulations, you have just spent hours
29:06
organizing emails instead of actually doing
29:09
meaningful work.
29:10
And then the third issue that I have is
29:12
can-band boards and can-band boards
29:15
like a Trello or an Asana, they are well-intentioned,
29:19
but moving digital sticky notes around feels productive.
29:23
But are you actually creating value
29:25
or are you just shuffling tasks?
29:27
These aren't real systems.
29:29
These are task management tools
29:31
and they do have their place,
29:33
but they're not gonna create the leverage that we're after.
29:36
Real systems eliminate or automate work,
29:39
they don't just organize it.
29:41
And here's a really hard truth.
29:42
You can spend years optimizing a process
29:45
that shouldn't exist in the first place.
29:48
This is the productivity equivalent
29:50
of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
29:52
You're so focused on doing things right,
29:55
you forget to ask if you're even doing the right things.
29:58
Here's some examples of misguided optimization.
30:01
Spending hours crafting the perfect email template
30:03
for emails that don't need to be sent at all.
30:06
Optimizing your filing system for documents
30:08
you'll never reference again.
30:09
Creating elaborate project management workflows
30:12
for projects that don't even align with your core goals.
30:15
Before you optimize, ask yourself,
30:18
should this process exist at all?
30:20
Does it directly contribute to my most important goals?
30:24
And if the answer is no,
30:26
your best optimization is elimination.
30:30
See, systems should simplify your life, not complicated,
30:34
but it's easy to fall into the trap
30:36
of creating systems so complex
30:38
that maintaining them becomes a job in itself.
30:41
So here's some other signs
30:42
you fall into the complexity trap.
30:44
So you can optimize things that don't matter.
30:46
And you can also create systems
30:47
that are so complex that they create more work for you anyway,
30:49
which is again, not the goal of what we're trying to do here.
30:52
So here's signs that you fall into a complexity trap
30:56
by creating some well-intentioned systems.
30:58
You spend more time managing your system
31:00
than doing actual work.
31:02
Your system requires extensive documentation to use.
31:06
You need multiple tools and platforms
31:08
to keep your system running.
31:09
And then onboarding somebody new to your system
31:11
takes longer than teaching them the task itself.
31:13
Remember, the goal is strategic laziness.
31:17
If your system isn't making your life easier,
31:19
it's not a system, it's a burden.
31:21
There is something else.
31:22
There is a note that I have to include
31:24
into this piece, a note to remember.
31:27
We're talking about optimizing,
31:28
we're talking about systems.
31:30
Automation is powerful.
31:31
There are times when it's not always the answer.
31:34
Sometimes the human touch is irreplaceable.
31:37
And there are dangers included in over automation,
31:41
where you can start to lose the personal connection
31:43
with clients or team members,
31:44
or you miss important nuances that an AI
31:47
or an algorithm might overlook,
31:49
or you create a rigid system
31:50
that can't adapt to unique situations.
31:53
So before you automate,
31:54
before you deploy any of the ideas that you've got from today,
31:58
you wanna ask yourself,
31:59
does this task also require human judgment
32:02
or creativity?
32:03
Will automation remove a very valuable personal touch
32:07
and is the cost and complexity of automation
32:10
worth the time saved?
32:12
So it is the case that sometimes
32:14
the most efficient system is a well-trained human
32:17
with good judgment,
32:19
but you have to at least ask yourself these questions.
32:22
And I found in my experience that
32:23
by asking yourself these questions,
32:25
more often than not,
32:26
you're gonna have a good judgment
32:27
as to should this be something
32:30
that I should build a system around?
32:32
Should there be something I should eliminate
32:33
or should there be something that should stay human?
32:35
And at the end of the day,
32:37
everybody who's listening to this
32:38
is on a quest for the perfect system,
32:42
on a quest to build the thing that makes
32:45
their whole life easier, and I get it.
32:47
It's so easy to fall into the trap
32:49
of constantly chasing the newest tools,
32:52
and technologies, and optimizing.
32:54
Remember, good line, a fool with a tool is still a fool.
32:58
New tech can't fix bad systems thinking
33:01
and fact it often obscures the real issues.
33:03
And before adopting any new tool, ask yourself,
33:06
does this solve a real problem in my current system?
33:09
Can I achieve the same result with the tools I already have
33:12
and will the time invested in learning
33:14
and implementing this new tool pay off?
33:17
The best systems, honestly, they're the simplest ones
33:20
that gets the job done.
33:22
Again, if we're going to include systems,
33:24
I don't need to give you more headache
33:26
by figuring out new tools and technology.
33:28
So there is a dance, there's a balance,
33:31
but you have to be aware of all the different things
33:33
and all the potential pitfalls.
33:35
So how do you avoid pitfalls
33:37
when you want to incorporate systems thinking,
33:39
when you want to incorporate leverage,
33:41
when you want to optimize?
33:42
So to make sure you're creating real value generating systems
33:46
and not just sophisticated busy work,
33:49
you can run your ideas through a checklist.
33:52
So this is my checklist and you can steal it.
33:54
First, elimination.
33:55
Can this process be eliminated entirely?
33:58
If so, get rid of it.
33:59
Second, automation.
34:01
If it can't be eliminated, can it be automated?
34:04
Third, delegation.
34:05
If it can't be automated, can it be delegated?
34:08
Fourth, simplification.
34:10
How can this process be simpler?
34:12
Five, value alignment.
34:14
Does this system directly contribute
34:16
to my most important goals?
34:18
Six, scalability.
34:20
Can the system handle 10X?
34:21
The current load without breaking?
34:23
Seven, self improvement.
34:25
Does this system have built in mechanisms
34:27
for learning and optimization?
34:29
Eight, time ROI.
34:31
Does the time saved by the system
34:33
significantly outweigh the time invested
34:36
in creating and maintaining it?
34:37
And if your system checks all those boxes,
34:40
congratulations, you are truly on your way
34:43
to building a lazy empire.
34:45
See, building effective systems isn't easy.
34:47
It requires upfront effort.
34:49
It requires constant refinement
34:51
and the courage to challenge conventional productivity with them.
34:54
But the payoff is enormous.
34:56
Payoff is a life where you're no longer
34:59
a slave to your to-do list, where your impact far exceeds
35:03
your input, where you have the freedom
35:05
to focus on what truly matters.
35:06
Remember, the goal isn't to do more.
35:09
It's to accomplish more by doing less.
35:11
So, go out there, be systematically lazy
35:15
and your future self will thank you for it.
35:17
And who knows?
35:18
One day, you'll build a system so effective,
35:21
you can take a permanent vacation
35:22
while your empire goes and runs itself.
35:25
And that's what I call productivity.