Learning to let go of control through system creation.

The desire for control manifests in the creation of systems. At least, that’s what it seemed to symbolize for me. 

Always thinking of the most efficient and effective process. Whether it’s walking to the office, finding a place to live, when to schedule meals… everything. There has always been an ease and default reliance on constructing something to make it easy.

But sometimes, this would result in anxiety, panic attacks and paralysis. Quite ironic but it seems to be the case when you take anything to an extreme. The ugly side starts revealing itself. 

Examining the Default Behaviour.

With enough panic attacks, I started thinking about why I defaulted to building systems. Always trying to make things more efficient and effective.

 Were they even achieving the most effective results? 

It’s only through such examination did I learn my desire to be in control. The preference to be self-reliant. The power I associated with independence. Beautiful systems were the manifestation of that. 

Starting with Hard Systems

If I think back to the systems I built in the past, I’d characterize them as being “hard”. Very rigid with edges. No room for adjustments and no "turning back”.

I’d set the objective, set out how I would best achieve it, and execute. If it required sleeping 4 hours a day, not seeing any friends for months, whatever the apparent ’sacrifice’ it didn’t matter. It was almost like an automaton obeying instructions. 

It could be as simple as scheduling the day with a morning start followed by 3 hours of deep work, 1 hour of lunch while reading, 2 hours of admin work, 3 hours to train, 30 minute transit, 1 hour for dinner etc… with specific locations optimized for time efficiency and preference. 

Or it could be planning a trip by colour coding restaurants, cafes, shops, attractions and dividing everything up into regions, finding the hotel with optimal transit location, and planing out each day for maximal reach by targeting activities by geography.

All the way to macro plans like planning in advance the next four years of high school where I would take each course where I would practically finish all graduate requirements before early admissions deadlines for universities so I would have all my engineering offers by January instead of June.

Much was achieved thanks to such rigorous planning but life would punch me in the mouth from time to time. Reminding me that as systems get longer in duration and bigger in number of encompassing variables… its vulnerability to environmental factors would grow. 

Breaking Systems is a Good Thing. 

Some circuit boards actually have breaks set in place to stop the system when it gets overloaded. A safety mechanism. 

Many times, I took system breaks personally. It was always my failure with an inability to foresee the future events or putting in contingency plans for every possible scenario. Obviously, this is silly. However, don’t we all feel like we are at fault? I mean, are you really going to put the blame on someone else but yourself? That’s just cheap. 

But over time, I got to thinking how a system break is necessary. Whether it’s changing careers time and time again to moving to different cities, a system break means change. 

Most of the times, a change for the better. Changing the system because I was growing as an individual. 

If I think about powerlifting, the program I used in the first 3 years to get a 300 lbs deadlift was not going to be the program I’d use to get a 500 lbs deadlift. As my body grew, I needed a different system. 

You Need a System. 

I always have friends who ask “What’s the point of a system if it’s constantly going to change?" or voice it limits you because of its rules and how they just go by ‘feel’.

My first thoughts to this are the wise words of Benjamin Franklin:

The familiar phrase “it’s the journey not the destination” can be applied to system creation. Sometimes, it’s when you build the system that you learn more about what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes, it’s from executing the system that you see yourself growing and changing and requiring to update the system (i.e. breaking the existing one). 

If I didn’t have a system, I would not have been able to become a strong powerlifter. If I didn’t have that, I probably wouldn’t have made a system to accelerate my accounting career. Without that system, I probably wouldn’t have gone on to work in consulting, investing and now running a media platform. 

It’s through imposing constraints that you understand what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes you have to yield to the environment and sometimes you move environments to find one that yields to you. But neither are possible until you build a system. 

Building a Soft System.

After making enough Plan Bs, Plan Cs and having them still blow up in your face, I stopped trying to plan for everything. I’ll leave that up to people that have to write legal and tax law.

Over time, I learned to build ’soft’ systems. 

Ones that are flexible and malleable. Very much like the tall grass that sway with the wind. Something more like water instead of concrete. Something that molds into various shapes. 

I find this more challenging because it's never “complete". But this is where building systems becomes an art and not a science. There cannot be precision because you cannot predict the uncontrollable variables. 

Instead of setting all the rules, it transitions to designing a system that focuses on singular core objectives. Kind of like a first principles approach. 

I’ve had to look at systems as organisms that will continuously grow. One that is driven by the core purpose and will grow through losses (i.e. iteration from new facts). 

I think Jeff Bezos said it best in building the frameworks for a soft system:

If whether it be travelling and creating a soft system where the core focus is to enjoy the experience and make it memorable. Leading to changing constraints from jam-packed “this is the first and last time I’ll be in this city” four day itineraries to seven day itineraries of “I want to leave enough stones unturned so I can look forward to coming back again and again and again because life is long."

Re-designing a career where it’s not about making partner at a big firm in seven years to retire by 50 but to spend the rest of my life doing work I’d like to pursue being the best in the world at. One that gives me purpose to stay alive. 

Looking an investing not as merely a vehicle to obtain financial freedom but a practice of living. A part of a system where it delivers wealth but is also an indication of your principles for executing with the long-term in mind. 

It Will Never Look The Same. 

If you followed my system over the years since I’ve made it public, you’ll notice that it has radically evolved since I started OMD Ventures. 

It went from various daily routines to four days of batching processes to one day of loaded batch processes to creating flexible lists to incorporating all kinds of systems for collecting notes and references. 

It’s a constant development of executing the work but learning to build systems that solve a core problem in a way that aligns best with myself and my environment at the time. 

I think soft system are in-fact "anti fragile” if I used Nassim Taleb’s definition. Each disturbance and breakage to the system doesn’t result in its demise but has revealed a hole that will be covered up and reinforced. 

It still feels unnerving. At least it does for me. Sometimes it feels like you are choosing to not be in control. But alas, it’s this kind of acceptance that forces me to only focus on things within my locus of control and it mentally prepares me for the uncontrollable. 

It's a continuous art. A process I'm growing into.