Sorry dedicated readers, System Sally has been very very busy. I have new systems daily (there will never be a shortage), it’s just that cataloging them seems like such a chore when you’re so busy exercising them. Also, it’s like when you’re actually in love you don’t want to talk about it that much, whereas after the heartbreak it seems like something that you need to understand. System Sally arose out of a time when there was time to understand my systems, to get them up and running, to reflect on past systems, to have the luxury of experimentation. But now that I have so much busyness, there’s no luxury, and there’s no room for error. Systems have been stripped down to their purely functional level. In some ways that essentializes the systems even more, but in some ways it takes the joy out of it. For example, I have a system that is filling up the gas tank the night before. You know that’s a good system, and so do I, but I do it because I have to, and I hate doing it. Or, I have a system where I leave my wallet and keys in an outbox crate before going to bed so when I wake up I know exactly where they are when I wake up. But when I wake up very early in the morning, and grab my wallet and keys I’m only happy that I have them, I’m not happy that I have a system for having them. This is how System Sally has Sadly Shifted Since Summer.
But, heck, having systems purely to support busyness is a meta-system, so it all still fits, it’s just that there’s less energy to focus on the individual pieces. For now, I will list, just by name at this point, some of the systems I’ve employed since getting busy. If I have time, I will give you more of a breakdown.
I kinda take back everything I said…These systems are AMAZING!
- Sleeping with a thermal ski mask to stay warm
- Growing your hair out to stay warm
- Using a mirror in the shower to shave
- Using shoulder bag on one shoulder, and another shoulder back on the other shoulder to balance out the weight.
- Shining shoes
- Not washing dress shirts or dress pants, but instead relying on deodorant and undershirts.
- Setting two alarms
- Using three moleskine notebooks (one for hard landscape calendar, one for work to do, one for personal to do and journaling)
- Not carrying pens in pocket anymore
- Not having a cellphone
- Changing your mind and getting an awesome smartphone
- Showering less frequently
- Not reading
- Klean Kanteen still best thing ever, but using a carabiner to have more hands free
- Fingerless gloves
- Eating breakfast
- Wearing hats…go silly looking rather than conservative (thanks to Holmes for that)
- Dealing with customer service by complaining, but choosing battles wisely
Anyway, that’s all I have for now.
I think what I’ve learned in this shift is that systems design themselves when situations demand it, and especially when there are time and energy constraints.
systemsally, i agree that systems design themselves when needed. lately my life got very busy and just out of necessity i started utilizing similar systems to yours. my shoes, pen, notes, and pocket stuff for the next day go in my shoes when i get home so when i put my shoes on in the morning they go back in the pocket. i haven’t washed my teaching clothes for weeks, just underwear/tshirts. i set two alarms just in case. i started shaving with a mirror too.
in addition a good wake up/breakfast may take more time than a fast one but gives me more mental energy for the day. on a similar note, fifteen minutes reading before bed may take fifteen minutes away from sleeping but if my mind is eased away from strenuous thinking i sleep better. and that extra fifteen minutes had i slept poorly wouldn’t be doing me any good. also, i take my teaching clothes off immediately when i get home to keep them as clean as possible and leave them in good shape for their purpose.