Excuse my 141st character

For better or worse, twitter is genuinely becoming the everyman’s blog, and while I’ve had this discussion before and lost, one solution to my lack of time to post regularly to system sally may be just to tweet my systems. It leaves out a great deal, I know, but it’s better than nothing, no?

That way I can do it mobile style wherever I am, whenever I think of it. You can reply to my tweets with “please flesh out” if you want me to flesh it out here.

But I will also try to post here even in the midst of the busyness.

System Sally Shifts

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.

Entries, System Sally

Rationale:

Update

System:

Entries will have both @next and @previous links if necessary.

Advantages:

Full navigation forward and back in a system’s evolution.

Status:

@current

Entries, System Sally

Rationale:

Update

System:

Do not use the @wip tag for new system sally entries.

Advantages:

• It will be clearer to myself and readers that all systems are simultaneously set in stone and works in progress

Status:

@next

@previous

Entries, System Sally

Rationale:

As I’ve been organizing System Sally, I’ve realized it is about time to have a more standard way of composing System Sally entries

System:

Have a single-word title (descriptive adjectives can follow this one word by a comma to make it clearer to the reader what kind of entries I am referring to, for example). Start off with a rationale, then explain the system, then list the advantages of this system to make it clear to the reader why I think my system is worth practicing. This list of advantages also helps open up dialogue, because it is easier to disagree with a list of advantages than the unexplaining system itself. This list will be a bulleted list, and will not be listed in order of importance. Then offer the reader a status message on the system, which can be @new, @wip (which is similar to @new by shows that I have not finalized it for myself, in that moment at least), @current, which means it is the most current iteration and has a link to the previous version, @previous, which means it is not the current version but has a link to the previous version, and @next, which means that it has been updated. @new tags will not have a link, but @current and @previous both link to the previous iteration, and @next links to the more recent iteration, in some cases the most current.

Advantages:

• I will enjoy posting more, because it will be more systematic
• Readers will get more out of the posts because they will be clearer

Status:

@next

@previous

Organizing System Sally

I’m switching from tags to categories. I think categories is a much better system.

Also, I’m going to be more clear when updating. I will always have a link to the previous version of a system, written at the bottom like this:

@previous

If I can, in this previous post, I will edit it and have something at the bottom saying:

@update

System Sally Recommends

I’m starting a new style of posting here called “System Sally Recommends”

Please check out my system for recommendations, to get a deeper understanding.

Are you guys ok with this?

New System Anticipation

Folks, I know I get super excited about all of my systems, but there is one in the works that may prove to render me so ecstatic that I will have to start taking pictures and adding them to this blog. Actually, to be honest there are three systems on the way, nearing perfection and completion that you will all be so happy to read about and perhaps implement.

The system is: Get super excited about a new system coming to fruition.

Writing your systems down, i.e. Journaling

“The Garage Clicker Fail,” as I will now be calling it, is the perfect demonstration of why keeping a systems blog (or a journal of your thoughts) is so useful. Obviously, leaving the clicker in the car is a more perfect system than carrying it on your person. Jacob was kind enough to comment on the post, but I had already made the shift. In fact, it was right after my post that I realized that keeping the clicker in the car was the obvious choice.

In writing it down I realized that I was basing my clicker-in-the-pocket choice on something someone else had said. It was my laziness that kept me stuck in that view, and it was the investigation and awareness of the system that showed me precisely where my delusion was. While the garage clicker is a minor thing, the process I went through is exactly what anyone goes through with anything, including partying and taking care. Bringing awareness to it reveals what parts of a system are good and true and insightful, and what parts are based on fear, preferences, laziness, or idiosyncracy. My friends, this is the primary reason I like writing about systems…you can actually learn a thing or two about yourself.

But, in the case of the garage clicker, the choice was clear once I thought about it. Many things in life aren’t that clear and simple, however. For example, in wanting to have a fun time, how can I know if hanging out in a rotted factory with indoor fireworks and broken glass dance floors is a good choice or not? I agree, this may not be so clear. Most people would agree that it’s not a good choice, but maybe most people are wrong, or maybe carrying the clicker on your person is better in some situations.

The system is this: whatever you do, whether you think of yourself as a systematic person or not, write down or share the decisions you make and why. Be open to discovering your brilliance, and your stupidity. Be open to changing your system when new truths (or previously unseen truths) become available. Be firm when everything has been scrutinized and it is still clear to you, that at least for you, the decision you make in a particular situation is based on wisdom and compassion. Be open to the fact that what is appropriate for you may not be appropriate for someone else and vice versa. Be open to the fact that you have some wisdom to share with other people and that done in the appropriate way, it is your obligation to help that other person see the light and vice versa.

The secondary system is this: do this journaling with other people in a blog called “System Sally” and let them call you on your lies, and stand up for your truth when it’s clear to you. Be an advocate for good systems.

Four Noble Truths: A System?

The four noble truths are the Buddha’s foundational teachings on suffering and the end of suffering. But, decide for yourself whether this is a system or not. Is a framework for understanding how to cope with reality a system? It’s not clear to me yet.

The four noble truths (for those of you unfamiliar) are:

1. There exists suffering in our lives

2. Our identification with resistance to pain and clinging to pleasure is the cause

3. Letting of our clinging and grasping to pain and pleasure will bring about that suffering’s cessation

4. There is a way that leads to this letting go which involves cultivating a certain view, conduct, and mental posture centered mostly around non-judgmental awareness

Given that there are no specifics provided beyond that (at least for the sake of this presentation), it would be perfectly acceptable to discuss what lifestyle may be most conducive towards ending suffering. Of course, one might even have a problem accepting that life is about “ending suffering.” I would maintain that a lot of this ends up being a semantic argument more than anything. If a child is crying, there is a sense that you want that crying to stop, but if you approach it that way, it’ll probably just continue. Instead, if you go try and take care of the crying child, the crying may stop instantly. So ending suffering may be the result, but not necessarily the right way of having an intent. Again, the semantic circles you can get caught in are less important than the practical debates about peoples’ actual experience. If someone embraces suffering, and it makes them feel good, you could either say they embraced their suffering, or you could say they ended their suffering through embracing it.

So, here’s a rephrase of the four noble truth system from a more tantric approach

1. There is suffering in life

2. It’s there no matter what, so you might as well enjoy it

3. So stop fearing your suffering and embrace it

4. Through adopting that view, loosening up your rigid conduct, and putting your heart and soul into things, you will eventually not be afraid of life anymore, and you’ll be able to enjoy the entirety of your life, pain and all.

Really, it’s a linguistic trick, but it does have real implications for the way people try to traverse these paths. They are both effective “orientations,” (not systems!) depending on the temperament of the person.

There is, of course, the real beautiful Heart Sutra, which basically says…”Hey, there’s actually no suffering.” This is the extreme version of my second version above.