The System of All Systems
Case Study
Diana had a marketing agency for multimillion-dollar businesses and when she came to me, she just bought a second business which required her to now consult $100 million dollar organizations.
At the time of acquisition, she had health issues to deal with, family situations and was also involved in many organizations.
As we spoke, Diana shared with me all the great systems she had in place, yet in this new situation it just barely keeping her above water.
With endless sticky notes, emails, Slack notifications, Trello notifications, Asana, ClickUp… It was A LOT to put it mildly.
Diana told me, it has taken her agency 3 years to get it all organized and systemized where she doesn’t have to think about it anymore. Now, she didn’t want it to take that long.
Thinking Skills
While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.
When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task is easy.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.
The struggle that Diana had, came from a weaker thinking skill of Categorizations.
I don’t really think “weak” is a good word to describe Diana’s challenges.
Her thinking skill of categorizations was excellent and it has helped her build her successful agency.
However, there was still a gap in where her thinking skill was to where she needed it to be in this new situation.
Because remember, we never become perfect at a thinking skill. It simply gives us the capacity to deal with more.
Categorizations
Categorizations is the thinking skill that helps us organize items, ideas, tasks or really anything that can be grouped, sorted or put together to make our life easier.
At this point in the game, Diana had created good systems and buckets for each aspect of her life.
Within each bucket there was more buckets.
For example, in her agency, she had a bucket for clients, employees, legal etc.
And in those buckets, she had smaller buckets.
So, in the clients bucket she had a smaller bucket for onboarding, upsells, building relationships, payments etc.
And in those buckets, she had even smaller buckets….
The reason she was able to make these systems and buckets was because her thinking skill of categorizations was strong.
We just had to take it up a notch to deal with ALL the buckets together.
We needed a system to keep track of all the systems. A megasystem.
Creating a Megasystem
So I asked Diana, “What is the best system to keep track of all your systems?”
Without blinking she said, “Every morning when I come into the office, I have the first hour to myself, no meetings. I should start by checking all my systems and see what’s most important for the day. What’s priority? Who’s waiting to hear from me etc.”
Diana explained why this would work well. “If I check in all my buckets right in the morning, then when I’m working on a task I wouldn’t be thinking about all the other 100 tasks or worry that fire might pop up, because I’ve already checked in on it. I know exactly what’s happening. I can do 2 quick checkin midday to make sure nothing urgent popped up.”
How’s that for a metasystem?
My question to you is -
Where in your life do you need to create a mega system so you don’t feel like you need to keep all your tabs open or else a fire might explode?
Take the time to think about this question and create a mega system that works for your brain.
Your Challenge
Diana was already amazing at the thinking skill of categorizations and by taking it the next level, she was able to deal with next level challenges with ease.
Your challenge this week is to work on your thinking skill of categorizations.
If you feel pretty confident about it, build yourself a mega system.
If you feel like you need more help, listen to episode 423 and do what it says in it.
Oh! There was another thinking skill Diana was pretty good at but by improving it, she was able to tackle even bigger challenges. Stay tuned ‘cuz we’re talking about it next week, in episode 457.
Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!
Hi, I'm ST,
Just like you, I want to be more efficient and effective.
Most entrepreneurs want to grow their business but already got a lot of stress.
At LifePix University we help you rewire your brain to become more efficient and effective while experiencing more inner peace.
Learn more here.
Your Essential Guide
to Cognitive Functions
This guide will give you all you need to start improving your cognitive functions. Learn what all 28 thinking skills are, how they apply to you and what you can do today to begin improving them.
Cognitive Functions Assessment
Thinking is not one big thing. Thinking is made up of 28 parts, called cognitive functions.
Take the FREE assessment to see where each of your cognitive functions are currently at.
We're on for 1M downloads
By the end of 2025
Can you help us reach our goal?
Share this podcast with someone you love!
The System of All Systems
Case Study
Diana had a marketing agency for multimillion-dollar businesses and when she came to me, she just bought a second business which required her to now consult $100 million dollar organizations.
At the time of acquisition, she had health issues to deal with, family situations and was also involved in many organizations.
As we spoke, Diana shared with me all the great systems she had in place, yet in this new situation it just barely keeping her above water.
With endless sticky notes, emails, Slack notifications, Trello notifications, Asana, ClickUp… It was A LOT to put it mildly.
Diana told me, it has taken her agency 3 years to get it all organized and systemized where she doesn’t have to think about it anymore. Now, she didn’t want it to take that long.
Thinking Skills
While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.
When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task is easy.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.
The struggle that Diana had, came from a weaker thinking skill of Categorizations.
I don’t really think “weak” is a good word to describe Diana’s challenges.
Her thinking skill of categorizations was excellent and it has helped her build her successful agency.
However, there was still a gap in where her thinking skill was to where she needed it to be in this new situation.
Because remember, we never become perfect at a thinking skill. It simply gives us the capacity to deal with more.
Categorizations
Categorizations is the thinking skill that helps us organize items, ideas, tasks or really anything that can be grouped, sorted or put together to make our life easier.
At this point in the game, Diana had created good systems and buckets for each aspect of her life.
Within each bucket there was more buckets.
For example, in her agency, she had a bucket for clients, employees, legal etc.
And in those buckets, she had smaller buckets.
So, in the clients bucket she had a smaller bucket for onboarding, upsells, building relationships, payments etc.
And in those buckets, she had even smaller buckets….
The reason she was able to make these systems and buckets was because her thinking skill of categorizations was strong.
We just had to take it up a notch to deal with ALL the buckets together.
We needed a system to keep track of all the systems. A megasystem.
Creating a Megasystem
So I asked Diana, “What is the best system to keep track of all your systems?”
Without blinking she said, “Every morning when I come into the office, I have the first hour to myself, no meetings. I should start by checking all my systems and see what’s most important for the day. What’s priority? Who’s waiting to hear from me etc.”
Diana explained why this would work well. “If I check in all my buckets right in the morning, then when I’m working on a task I wouldn’t be thinking about all the other 100 tasks or worry that fire might pop up, because I’ve already checked in on it. I know exactly what’s happening. I can do 2 quick checkin midday to make sure nothing urgent popped up.”
How’s that for a metasystem?
My question to you is -
Where in your life do you need to create a mega system so you don’t feel like you need to keep all your tabs open or else a fire might explode?
Take the time to think about this question and create a mega system that works for your brain.
Your Challenge
Diana was already amazing at the thinking skill of categorizations and by taking it the next level, she was able to deal with next level challenges with ease.
Your challenge this week is to work on your thinking skill of categorizations.
If you feel pretty confident about it, build yourself a mega system.
If you feel like you need more help, listen to episode 423 and do what it says in it.
Oh! There was another thinking skill Diana was pretty good at but by improving it, she was able to tackle even bigger challenges. Stay tuned ‘cuz we’re talking about it next week, in episode 457.
Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!
Hi, I'm ST,
Just like you, I want to be more efficient and effective.
Most entrepreneurs want to grow their business but already got a lot of stress.
At LifePix University we help you rewire your brain to become more efficient and effective while experiencing more inner peace.
Learn more here.
Your Essential Guide
to Cognitive Functions
This guide will give you all you need to start improving your cognitive functions. Learn what all 28 thinking skills are, how they apply to you and what you can do today to begin improving them.
Cognitive Functions Assessment
Thinking is not one big thing. Thinking is made up of 28 parts, called cognitive functions.
Take the FREE assessment to see where each of your cognitive functions are currently at.
We're on for 1M downloads
By the end of 2025
Can you help us reach our goal?
Share this podcast with someone you love!
