Commit to It

The Simple Newsletter - Issue # 083

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Adam’s Thoughts

I get caught in procrastination more often than I’d like to admit.

Usually, it happens right before I’m about to take on something I know will be meaningful.

Something useful.

Something that could have a real impact on me, my business, or the people I coach and advise.

And I’ve seen this pattern throughout my 25-plus year career.

I usually know what I want to do.

What I haven’t figured out is how I’m going to do it consistently.

That’s where the system comes in.

When I have a system, I don’t have to think about how to do the thing.

I just get to do it.

And for me, that matters because most of the real work I do is thinking, creating, advising, and solving problems.

But when I also have to think about the system that allows me to do the work, I can’t fully think about the problem itself.

That sounds ironic.

Shouldn’t figuring out the system just be another problem to solve?

Maybe.

But that’s not how my brain works.

And from what I’ve seen, it’s not how most entrepreneurs work either.

Most of us are either highly creative, highly tactical, or incredibly skilled at delivering something.

We know how to do the thing.

But when the thing needs a repeatable system behind it…

That’s where we get stuck.

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Adam’s Lessons

From what I’ve seen, there are usually two responses.

The first:

“Fuck it. I’m not doing this.”

You move on to something else.

The problem?

You didn’t solve anything.

You just exchanged one unfinished problem for another.

The second response is:

“Fine. I’m going to sit down and build the system.”

That sounds better.

But now a new kind of pressure appears.

Because you start thinking:

What if I build this wrong?

What if I have to use this forever?

What if I realize next week there’s a better way?

And that’s where the system itself becomes another source of procrastination.

The people I’ve seen thrive handle it differently.

They build the simplest version that works…

And then they use it.

They learn from the work the system allows them to do.

Then they iterate.

But here’s the part I think we miss:

Put a boundary around when you’re allowed to change it.

Maybe you test the system for a week.

If it works, improve it and commit to it for a month.

Then review what you learned.

Iterate again.

Run that version for 90 days.

Then maybe that becomes the system you use for the next year.

The exact timeline doesn’t really matter.

What matters is deciding the timeline before you start.

Because the problem isn’t that we know systems will evolve.

Of course they will.

The problem is that without boundaries, we can constantly question what we built.

And eventually?

“Fuck it.”

On to the next thing.

So before you build the system, decide something else first:

How long are you willing to use it before you allow yourself to change it?

Build it.

Use it.

Learn from it.

Then iterate when the time comes.

Not every time a new idea pops into your head.

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So here’s my question for you this week:

What system in your business are you either avoiding building—or constantly changing—because you haven’t decided how long you’re willing to commit to it?

That’s all for this week.

See you next Saturday.