Existence Systems Part 2: What Makes a Good One?
Yesterday I distinguished the oddly phrased concept “existence system”, which unravels to mean “a system for keeping things in existence”. Or put another way: a system for managing details in life and staying on top your commitments. Today I want to speculate on the defining features that make such systems really great. In the years since I first became acquainted with the notion “existence system” (including an initial bout of resistance to having my life chained to anything of the sort), I’ve experienced plenty of what does and does not work for me, and here are the unifying gems I’ve found:
Easy or Automatic Data Entry
By “data” here I mean the details of whatever you need to keep in existence: appointments, meetings, outings, all of it. If it’s all gotta go in (and it does all gotta go in, if you want to be able to say with confidence whether or not you’re free next Wednesday at 11:00am for one hour) it better be super easy and fast to do so. Otherwise laziness will understandably kick in, soon rendering the system incomplete and out of date, and thus pretty much useless.
Automatic Reminders
One can be expected to check in with a schedule only so often, and every half hour on the half hour isn’t likely. The ability to set reminders for key things and have the system alert you automatically at the right time is a fantastic tool to make sure you make every engagement, and on time to boot.
A pleasure to use
This goes beyond just ease of data entry. It makes such a difference to have the entire experience be pleasant. I say that, by default, you and I are not wired to enjoy using existence systems (it’s much easier to just wing it day to day, right?). Intuitive, pretty, and even fun to use… these sorts of things collectively constitute a spoonful of sugar to help the [responsibility] medicine go down.
How does your existence system rate in these three areas? Furthermore, do you know how the systems you clients use rate? When keeping others on task as coaches so often do for their clients, one easy way to make gains may simply be to get them interested in using an existence system that serves them better.
As an expert in productivity and having spent many years researching how people relate to these sorts of “systems” or “tools” there are a few recognizable fundamentals.
1. We are taught & learn from childhood to react to, rather than create what we take on and accomplish in the course of a given day. It’s the phenomenon of dealing with the what seems most urgent (and therefore the most dangerous) first, rather than scheduling (and therefore promising) an action, and then acting from the intention rather than reacting, reacting, and reacting through our day. “Reaction” is a hard wired habit and fundamental way of being for many.
2. When people enter intentions into some sort of planning system, they confront the power of their promise, and their willingness to sometimes fail – life doesn’t always unfold according to plan. Adults have a tiny-to-non-existent tolerance for failure. Not using a “system” therefore, allows one to avoid committing, and so failing. Using a system on the other hand, calls forth authoring one’s life and being accountable to one’s promises (everything entered into a schedule is a promise).
3. The source of people’s resistance to using a system is much less the system capabilities and/or UI, but more people’s relationship to being accountable to themselves and others, especially when the system is shared as in group scheduling.
4. At today’s pace, anyone who is up to anything, at a minimum, MUST use a scheduling and communication management system.
September 29, 2009 @ 12:20 pm