How Small Systems Create Big Results

(Transcript edited for clarity.)

Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to How Small Systems Create Big Results.

I shorten this a lot of times by saying, "Small systems win."

Again, we're going to talk about how small systems create big results.

That's what I've learned over the years, and that's a lot of what I teach in the Your Life Systems universe here in the videos, the things I write, and in the book: reducing things to small so you can get small progress that stacks up and gets you closer to your big goals quicker.

It doesn't always make sense until it starts working for you.

But again, we're talking about how small systems create big results.

Life-changing systems don't have to be complicated.

In fact, the smaller and simpler they are, the more likely you are to actually use them.

That's very important.

I talk about this a lot, but the reason I talk about it a lot is because it's really important.

No matter what the system is, if you don't use it, it doesn't help you.

What I learned - and it took me a long time to learn this - is that I could have big goals. I could have huge things I wanted to do.

Even if they required page after page of implementation over time, once I started reducing them to smaller and smaller monthly steps, weekly steps, and daily steps, that's when I started making consistent progress.

So I'm going to say that again.

Life-changing systems don't have to be complicated.

In fact, the smaller and simpler they are, the more likely you are to use them.

Progress leads to momentum.

Progress and momentum are more important than the huge, overarching thing today.

That's all we have to deal with, right? All we're dealing with is today.

It's good to plan.

It's good to have a system in place for tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.

Those are all good things.

But what do we actually have that we can deal with right now?

That's today, right?

So I break things down into what I can do today that gets me closer to where I want to be tomorrow, next week, and a year from now.

Small systems, repeated consistently, create extraordinary results.

So don't miss the importance of this.

Don't think, "I've got huge goals. This isn't for me. A small-step system or a small system won't work for me."

I would argue that it'll work for you better than anything else.

We'll talk about that a little bit more as we go through this.

I used to think success required complicated plans.

Now I'm going to be completely honest with you.

Every time I look at a new business or a new big goal in my life, I usually start with a pretty big list.

I don't start taking action on that list right away. I use it in my mind.

I think through everything I can in my mind: first order, second order, third order, if I can get there - what this is, what this can lead to, what needs to be done, what needs to be done now, what needs to be done down the road, what it's going to look like in a year, and what it's going to look like in five years.

That's how my mind works.

So I'll go ahead and get all of that out of my brain and onto paper, but then I start simplifying it.

That's the main way I simplify things like that.

After I get it all on paper, it can be overwhelming if you think of everything you have to get done, say, within a month or within a year.

Think about everything you might want to get done if you're starting a business and everything you need to get done in the first year.

When you look at that, that's a lot of stuff.

The truth is, you can get a lot of stuff done in a year.

But if you focus too much on all of that first-year stuff on the first day, it's going to be overwhelming, right?

That's where a small-wins system or a small system comes into place.

Here's what I do.

I break it down.

Let's say this is where I want to be in 12 months.

Then I break it down by month.

Where do I want to be in a month?

That's a lot easier to deal with mentally than where I want to be in a year, right?

I still have the year goal in mind, and everything I'm talking about for the first month is going to lead me to that.

It's like the 12 steps to that. Each month is one step.

So I've already reduced it from a year to one month.

Then I break it down again.

There are 4.3 weeks on average in a month. We're just going to say four weeks.

Then I break it down to: Where do I want to be in a week that's going to lead me to where I want to be in a month, which is going to lead me to where I want to be in a year?

Okay? Simple.

Sounds simple.

It is simple.

That's why it works so well.

That's how the small-step systems work.

So now, where do I want to be in a week?

Well, I'm going to work five days this week.

So where can I be at the end of today that's going to get me where I want to be at the end of the week, the end of the month, and the end of the year?

You see where this is going?

It sounds simple, but don't miss the importance of this because this is the exact system I've used to accomplish all of the big things in my life, in my business life, and everything I do.

This is how I accomplish them now.

Every week I'll sit down and say, "This is where I want to be a week from now," and then I'll break it up into four or five things.

Small things.

Small systems.

I break it into a small system for each day.

Okay, on Monday, these two things have to happen.

I write those down.

Those go at the top of my list.

If you watch any of my videos or read any of my stuff about the system I use, I don't use a productivity system.

I use a progress system.

This is what I'm talking about in those: one or two things that I need to get done.

Those are the things I focus on first every day.

So then, I've broken this 12-month, one-year goal - where I want to be in a year - down to what I can do today that's going to get me where I want to be in a year.

Then I do those things.

Then I know what I need to do tomorrow: the next small system or the next small step.

That does two things.

One, when you keep making small steps every day for a year, usually I've found that if I can stay consistent, keep the momentum, and stack those daily wins - that's what I call it in my mind, stacking wins every day - I often make more progress than I thought I could in the first year.

The momentum starts building and I start seeing everything working.

I've put it into action and I'm stacking these wins, then I do more and stack more wins.

I get to the end of that first month and I'm usually a little bit ahead of where I wanted to be.

Then the next month, the same thing happens.

The momentum is important because these small systems keep the momentum going.

The more momentum you have, the less you rely on willpower and the more you rely on the systems you have in place.

I've used that.

I've used that in the Small Wins Success System that I've built.

I used it when I used to write.

I use it in my daily routines.

Small system, every day, stack wins.

So small actions compound.

That's what I was talking about.

Compound is the right word.

I do the smallest thing today, or a small thing today, or two small things today.

Then when I do that again tomorrow, that compounds.

By the end of the week, I've had five days compounded of stacking wins.

That helps with the momentum, right?

It helps me keep going.

Things keep making more and more difference.

That's what we talk about with compounding.

Simple systems are easier to maintain.

I talked about that at the beginning.

If you focus too much on where you want to be in a year, that's tough to maintain because you're not seeing any huge progress toward a year today.

But if you focus on the small system - the small system for this week and then the small system for today - you see that.

You can see, "I got done today what I needed to get me toward where I want to be at the end of the week, month, and year."

Consistency matters more than intensity.

It's better to stack 250 small wins throughout the year than focus only on the year.

The consistency matters.

What you do consistently starts compounding.

We used compounding, right?

So focus on stacking wins.

Momentum grows one small win at a time.

I've talked a lot about momentum here, but it's important.

There are two things you can overlook here.

You can look at the title, How Small Systems Create Big Results, and think, "I don't need small systems. I've got huge results I want. Small systems won't work."

You're making a mistake if you discount this because it says small systems, because it does work.

The second thing you could miss is the importance of momentum.

If you've got the year goal in your mind and that's all you're focused on, and at the end of the week you've only had five small wins, those five small wins might not seem like they've gotten you even 1% closer to your year goal.

If that happens, you might get discouraged.

But if you're focused on the daily wins, the daily system, and stacking those wins, then you know all you need to do is keep stacking these wins to get where you want to be in a year.

Small systems may not look impressive today.

Give them some time.

Give it a try and let them work.

I'm going to leave you with this.

Big results often begin with surprisingly small systems.

So let's break down whatever big thing you want to accomplish in your life and answer this question:

What is one thing you can do today that's going to get you closer to your big goals?

What's one thing?

Then do it.

Tomorrow, ask the same question and do it.

That's how you stack wins.

That's how you reach big goals.

I'm Wes. Thanks for being with me.

Like, subscribe. I'll see you soon.

What's Next?

·        Choose one big goal you want to move forward.

·        Write down where you want to be 12 months from now.

·        Define the result that would represent meaningful progress one month from now.

·        Break that month into four weekly targets.

·        Choose the one or two actions that matter most today.

·        Repeat tomorrow and keep stacking small wins.

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