A couple months ago I saw a TV show on A&E that featured a woman who suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder. She was so paranoid about germs that she would literally clean her kitchen for hours on end and she’d have anxiety attacks if someone else made dinner because she didn’t know whether or not they’d washed their hands while cooking or used clean utensils to make the meal.
That’s pretty extreme to put it mildly, but I’m kind of anal-retentive myself when it comes to certain things. I try to systemize everything in my life: I make plans, I follow schedules, and I write down ideas and notes all day long to keep my life running as smoothly as possible.
I do this because I believe if you work in an extremely productive manner, you can do things efficiently, which means you’ll be saving yourself time, headaches and money.
A Lesson From McDonald’s
This is kind of an odd analogy, but you’ll see where I’m going in a second. Let’s compare life to a fast-food restaurant.
If you walk inside McDonald’s, you know that you’re supposed to head up to the counter. There’s a menu hanging up on the wall in front of you, and you’re going to tell the employee what you’d like to eat.
They’ll punch your order into the register and tell you how much you owe. Once you pay for your high-calorie, high-fat meal, your order will show up on another computer back in the kitchen area. If all goes well, someone reads the monitor, slaps your burger on a bun and grabs your French fries. Then they will stick it all on a tray and slide it across the counter to you.
It’s a routine that’s in place at fast-food restaurants across the country. You can go to McDonald’s in Chicago or McDonald’s in Seattle or McDonald’s in Podunk, USA and the procedure is the same- quick, easy, simple.
It’s an efficient system, and it’s one of the reasons that McDonald’s is a world-wide, multi-million dollar company. (You know, along with the fact that people love greasy food.)
Systematize Your Life to Improve It
It doesn’t matter if you eat Big Macs or not- the point I’m trying to illustrate here is that systematizing your life or your business is a great way to improve things. You’ll have more time to spend doing what you really want to do, and most likely you’ll have more money, too. I’m proof of that.
I earn a full-time income with my internet business because it’s almost fully automated– I don’t have to physically work every minute of every day.
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile now, then you’ve probably read my posts which claim it’s absolutely possible to earn a six-figure income with affiliate marketing.
It’s still true, and it’s not as hard as you think it is, but over 99% of people can’t achieve this goal. The thing that separates that 1% who succeed from everyone else is pretty simple: Successful affiliate marketers have a system.
That’s the cold, hard truth. It took me a little while to realize it, so don’t make my initial mistakes. So one more time … repeat after me: “Most affiliates fail because they don’t have a system.”
The Importance of Consistent Effort
I live a comfortable life, and I’m not a genius or some rich guy who inherited a successful company. I simply realize that I need to have a system in place in order for my business to thrive.
Speaking of constant improvement, don’t forget one of my favorite things, the Japanese principle of Kaizen.
Kaizen is the Japanese word for “improvement” and it’s incorporated into most Japanese businesses.
It involves following a daily action plan and studying the systems currently being used and figuring out how they can be improved. If something is not working as smoothly as you’d like it to, then it needs to be improved.
We’re all here to help improve ourselves, and Kaizen is a great way of thinking and a great thing to incorporate into your own life.
Creating a System for Your Life
You probably don’t own a McDonald’s franchise, but you probably have some sort of system that you follow for your business (or at your current job). There are certain procedures for attracting potential customers, then successfully supplying them with what they need and obtaining payment for your goods or services. That’s how businesses function.
If this routine isn’t earning your business as much money as you’d like to be earning, then something is wrong and something needs to be changed. Take a moment to think things through, and figure out what is causing problems. How can you do it differently? (Kaizan, remember?)
This systematization and planning doesn’t even have to be related to work or business. If you feel that you don’t have enough time to get your kids ready for school in the mornings or you don’t have enough free time to spend on your hobbies, then stop for a minute and think. Realize what you’re doing and figure out a small way to improve.
If you tweak things every now and then, you’ll wind up with more time and less stress.
Take Action. Get Results.
Steve, great post. If you treat your life as a business it will definitely make a big difference. As you say, tweaking, refining and experimenting (just trying stuff and see what happens) will make a huge difference.
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..So, whats your problem? (part 2) =-.
Thanks for the comment Matthew. It definitely is important to constantly tweak what you’re doing in life and experiment with how you handle things. The key here is to understand that everything is a work in progress and that you have continuously improve what you’re doing.
I am not for sure systematic, good or bad, I love changes, not so much routine. Keeps me on my toes. Great post, good info.
Thanks! Though, I do recommend systematizing certain aspects of your life. Makes it a little easier to focus on the fun things.