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Your Life Systems is a podcast about building practical systems for everyday life.
Join Wes as he shares simple ideas, practical frameworks, and real-world experience to help you make consistent progress in the areas of life that matter most.
Most people don't need more information. They need better implementation.
Instead of relying on motivation, you'll learn how to build systems that make success easier, more consistent, and more sustainable.
Why Real Success Usually Looks Boring
Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to Why Real Success Usually Looks Boring.
Have you ever seen someone that looks like what they're doing is boring? They just look like it's nothing special, but they're very successful.
Often, the most successful people you run across, it doesn't look like they're doing anything extraordinary, or it doesn't look like they're super special. It kind of looks boring from the outside. Well, there's a reason for that.
Because success usually looks boring from the outside. That's not saying that success is boring when you're getting from here to the success you want. If you've ever worked hard to achieve some great successes in your life, you know that it's usually not boring, and not always easy, and not always super simple.
But it can appear that way from the outside, especially if you're looking at someone that's already successful in something you want to do.
So that leads to today's leading question, and a question you need to keep in mind as we're going through this episode: What boring actions would create results if you just kept repeating them?
A lot of times, success comes down to finding the right things to do consistently, and then consistently doing them.
Which, if you think about that, if you've found a simple series of steps that leads to success in some area, and all you have to do is keep repeating those steps, that does appear boring.
In fact, over a long period of time, it even can get somewhat boring. So sometimes you have to find ways to keep things interesting, which is really a topic for another day.
Because often, when we perfect a system, or a plan, or a workflow, and it's working well and we're having success, especially if you're entrepreneurial, you tend to start messing with the system that works. You tend to keep tweaking it.
So what I do in that case, which I'm not going to get super deep into today, but I'm just going to mention it, is I plan ahead.
Most systems, especially business systems I create and put in place, I plan ahead. What am I going to do when this starts working really well, so that I don't keep tweaking it or messing with it to make it not work so well?
So I'll have a plan to add something to the business that doesn't affect the first plan, or I'll have a plan to start a side business that's like this first business that doesn't mess with the first business.
It's just that if you're entrepreneurial, then that is a danger you have to look for. But that's not what we're talking about today. It's why real success usually looks boring.
And here's the key. The key is you want it to get to the point where it is boring, or at least looks boring.
The key that unlocks long-term success is figuring out each step that you need to create and do, and then do repeatedly to continue whatever the success is you're working at.
That's really it. If you can find that puzzle and put it together to start getting the success you want and unlock it, then it's basically locking in those steps over and over and over again.
And that goes back to the question.
Think of this: What boring actions can create results if you keep repeating them? What are you doing right now that's working well that all you need to do is keep doing the same thing over and over?
And that's really what most people are looking for when they start trying to create a system for their life or their business. They don't think of it that way usually.
But what we do is we want this success, whatever it is. So we start creating systems or workflows or plans to get this success or create this success.
And we go through and we test things. Some things work and we keep them, and some things don't work and we replace those things.
And that's okay. Sometimes that's what builds the best systems for your life and your business. But what happens is we're trying to find the steps that work.
It doesn't matter if it's five steps or 50 steps or 200 steps. If you can find the combination of small steps that go together to create the success you want, then we want that to be able to be repeated.
We want to be able to repeat it over and over to sustain that success, right?
So this is really overall what you need to think about as you're creating plans and systems to try to reach the successful things you want in your life.
Important results are often built through ordinary actions repeated for a long time.
They call it, you know, shiny object syndrome or whatever. You're going along, you're working on something, and a bright shiny object, some new system or new hack or new something, new book or whatever, comes into your vision or your thought or you run across it in some way.
And oftentimes we start focusing on the bright shiny object instead of focusing on what it is that we're trying to accomplish or what's already working.
So instead of always searching for the next new thing, let's focus on what can we do or what are we already doing? What are you already doing that's working that you can keep repeating?
Novelty feels exciting. New feels exciting.
That's the bright shiny object thing I'm talking about. It can feel exciting to see something new or try something new, but constant change often interrupts what is already working.
Especially if you're entrepreneurial and always looking for new ideas and new business ideas, new ways to make money, etc., there's nothing wrong with that.
But so often when you think that way, you're always looking at the bright shiny objects and you're trying to judge whether they're worth looking into or worth doing something with.
And that's okay, but you've got to figure out how to keep the search for something new, something better, from interfering with what's already working.
So the best thing to do is know this can happen, especially if you're entrepreneurial-minded.
You know before you ever start anything, any system or plan, that you're probably eventually going to keep looking for more and more and better and better.
So if you know that ahead of time, you can start looking for it.
You can maybe put some safeguards or guardrails in place to keep you from messing up what you're doing that's working while trying to look at new things.
What I do, and I'm still not perfect at it, because I'm always interested in learning more and figuring out different ways and different businesses and different ways to make money, is I try to separate what I'm doing currently and what's already working from looking for new opportunities.
I try to separate those by setting aside time.
I schedule time every day, at least every week. I schedule time to look at new opportunities. So I've separated it by time.
I set up time. I schedule time to work on what I'm currently working on, and I schedule different time to investigate new opportunities.
So what I do is, if I'm working on something in my current system or my current plan or my current businesses and I come across something that's a new opportunity, all I do is jot it down so I don't forget it.
Then I set it aside, and when I've set aside allotted time to look at new opportunities, then I pull it back out and look at it then.
And that, in my mind, by time blocking for current versus future opportunities, kind of separates it in my mind, which is helpful.
But I still have to make sure that I don't let the new ideas or the new opportunities get in the way or interfere with what I'm currently working on.
So just be aware of that because it happens to a lot of people.
Systems reduce the need to reinvent the process every day.
So if you get a good system and it's working, or a good plan and a good series of steps that seem to be working and appear to be boring from the outside, or it might even get boring to you, you found a good thing.
If it's working, it's a good thing. That's a system.
You put it in place and it's working. That's what a system is. And that reduces or eliminates the need to come up with a new system every day.
All I'm saying is when you create and develop and operate systems that work, don't mess with them.
You can test them one small step at a time to see if you can improve them, but don't reinvent the system. The system's in place.
Boring success is good. Boring money making is good. If it's simple and you can just repeat the steps, don't mess with it.
Boring does not mean ineffective. It often means predictable and repeatable.
How many of us like predictable and repeatable income? I do. Almost everybody I know does.
If you can figure out a predictable and repeatable process to create income, that's what we want.
If it's repeatable and predictable, it can get boring, but it's very effective.
So again, think of one thing or a group of actions that you're taking right now that are already working and all you have to do is keep repeating them.
Put a mental and a time block around those things so you don't mess with them. Don't mess them up.
And then if you're still interested in testing new things or new opportunities or bright shiny objects, separate those in your mind.
Time block time to look at those on their own and keep them separated.
This is Wes with Your Life Systems. Please subscribe, like, take care.