System life. How to organize life to cope with uncertainty and achieve results without burnout
go back to the previous chapter, but it’s better not to switch to the recommended books right away. Read the book to the end, figure out how the whole approach works. Then you will be able to plan further studying of the materials more effectively for yourself. Otherwise, diving into the details of other books may take you in the wrong direction.
I’ve read a lot of non-fiction books. Somewhere I sighed that it was written beautifully in the book, but it doesn’t work that way in real life, and somewhere I found useful insights. Some motivate, others instruct, others teach life, and others show research. There will be nothing like that in this book. I’m not going to motivate you, teach you life and give a bunch of evidence that it works. I don’t see the point in giving banal advice. Everyone knows that smoking is harmful. If a person is shown studies proving the harm of smoking, then he will agree, he will be sad, but most will not quit. Therefore, I don’t see the point in stuffing the book with hundreds of footnotes that no one reads. My goal is to explain how and what processes need to be started in life in order to build a life management system that I use. To make it easier and more organic. Without a thousand proofs, psychological violence and persuasion. So that motivation starts working naturally, and not under the whiplash.
Having received the template of my approach, you will be able to string all the other knowledge and experience on it. You can attribute almost any book to one of the processes and make a list for pumping it. For the sake of this approach, many details had to be sacrificed. Therefore, we will go through some topics at the top level, and I will show you what other books you need to read to understand them. I made a choice in favor of the overall picture before diving into the details of individual fragments. So, anyone can go from the general to the particular and go deeper where necessary. Such a process seems to me more logical and clearer. At the end, you will receive a list of 60 books that will improve your life and make it more systematic.
It is best to read the book step by step from beginning to end. Mark what you already know and where there are blind spots. You can attach notes, write on pages, highlight text, fold pages and etc. Do everything that will allow you to get more benefit from this book. After reading it, take a fresh look at the approach of system life from above, update the blind spots that need to be worked out first. What processes need to be fixed, what tools can be implemented, what knowledge is missing. After reading it, you will already know what to do next. «Just repeat after me» will not work. Although I think the approach is universal, but when you start using it, it will be yours. It will evolve and adapt over time. The main thing is to understand how it works and not to lose these processes in life. Their launch in any form will have a positive impact on your life. Since the basis of my approach is common sense. And here I tried to collect it not only from my own experience and knowledge, but also from the experience of my friends, colleagues and authors of other books. When you understand the meaning and principle of the approach, you will be able to use any tools and implement new processes for yourself. I want to give you a fishing rod, not a fish. So that you can learn to think in a systematic way and be able to get any fish in any conditions. And understand what needed to be studied and implemented for a bigger catch.
I am not an omniscient teacher; I am an ordinary person who wants to share his experience to save your time and effort. I will be glad to receive any feedback about the book and make my approach even better. I am sure that there are still many approaches and knowledge that I have yet to study with you. It’s easy to find me on social media. So, press like buttons, subscribe to new videos, and let’s go!
Introduction
Perhaps the world is a trash can
into which a burning lighter is thrown…
After 2014, two thoughts became ingrained in me. The first is that the world is unstable, and anything can happen. The second – tomorrow may not come. I automatically accepted that there is no safe place anywhere, there are no guarantees, and no one knows what will happen next.
How can this be described? In the 1990s, Stefan Garros, a doctor of behavioral sciences, described an unstable, constantly changing model of combat operations with the concept of VUCA. This acronym combines four concepts: «volatility», «uncertainty», «complexity» and «ambiguity». In the 2000s, this concept gradually moved into the business sphere, and over the last decade we have seen that these four words are a description of our world. People began to understand and accept the VUCA world. Even books and approaches for survival in it began to appear. But the pandemic has made its own adjustments to the level of instability. Today we are dealing with an even more complex world than VUCA. The writer and futurist James Cascio described our world with the abbreviation BANI: «brittle», «anxious», «nonlinear» and «incomprehensible». As soon as we began to get used to the fact that everything was changing quickly, life switched to a new level of complexity. Impermanence has become fragile. Any system can break down, even if it looks reliable at first glance. Uncertainty has given rise to anxiety. The endless stream of changes, information and discoveries drives us into chronic anxiety. No one is sure of the correctness of their decisions and there are no guarantees. Complexity has been enriched by non-linearity. Cause-and-effect relationships stop working. There is no point in predicting the future. Look at what is happening with forecasts in the economy and in politics. The ambiguous became incomprehensible. More and more discoveries are being made that refute many years of knowledge. We’re learning more and more that we actually don’t know anything. The most interesting thing is that you can’t get off our planet. All that’s left for us to do is only to accept that there is no stable world anymore. Outside the window is a stressful and constantly changing world, which tomorrow may be called a new abbreviation. The only way to live is to adapt! Learn to live in a new dynamic system, rebuild the management of life and accept this uncertainty. Such a peace gradually came for everyone. And each person must adapt to their current situation. Everyone should learn how to plan their movement, react to changes and change plans along the way. We all took off on a rocket that is being completed during the flight. Therefore, today it is very important what and how you will do. Today, you can’t forget everything and lie on the couch looking for your destiny for half your life. You can’t go with the flow and think you’re going to be lucky. This approach will throw you overboard very quickly today. Everyone decides for himself: take responsibility for his life or play Russian roulette with uncertainty.
In the current reality, just time management no longer works. A more comprehensive approach is needed. Structural, flexible, selective and conscious.
«The world is not so sunny and friendly. This is a very dangerous, tough place. And if you just give up, it will knock you over with such force that you will not get up anymore. Neither you nor I, no one in the world beats as hard as life. It doesn’t matter at all how you hit, but it matters what kind of punch you hold, how you move forward…»
This book is about such an approach. When you do the right things in an organized way, and do not hold punches that can be avoided. It is written to help you take control of your life as much as possible. It consists of six chapters. Each chapter is devoted to one of the processes that are going into a cycle and help ensure system life. The book is primarily about thinking, not about tools. At first it will seem that there is too much information. But as you read, the design will add up to a single picture. In the end, when you can look at the whole approach, everything will fall into place, systematize and become simple. Each person can set up this way of thinking and follow an understandable path to the result. If you know how to drive, then remember yourself in the first lessons with an instructor. If you don’t know how, then imagine that you are studying. Remember or imagine the same feeling and fear when you don’t know what to grab and where to look, threats seem to be everywhere, and stress turns off your brain. The purpose of this book is to make sure that behind the wheel of your life there is a confident driver who does everything automatically, confidently drives a car and guarantees the safety of himself and passengers on any new route.