OG Tuesday Issue #159

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Start meditating while you cook, maintain your system, try being a little less busy, and read a short and sweet essay on leadership.

You might not have time to meditate, but you’ve gotta eat, right? Even if you favor take-out on most days, chances are you cook every once in a while.

Next time you do, try something we’d usually recommend against: Multitasking.

Meditate while you cook.

Here’s a 5-minute mindful cooking exercise from Headspace>

Here’s a 15-minute mindful cooking meditation from Lasta Fasting>

🗓️ Boss’s Day is coming up on Oct 16th (next Monday)!

I’m sure you’re already dreading having to hassle your coworkers for contributions, card signatures, and coming up with the perfect gift.

🛑 HOLD ON! There’s a way better way.

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In her book, Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Donella H. Meadows explains systems of all kinds. You might even call it the ultimate book about systems. She discusses them in fascinating, yet complex, detail.

We’ve skimmed the concepts to bring you some translatable tips.

What is a system?

In the most broad terms, a system is a group of things that interact to achieve a unified function or purpose.

Are YOU a system?

The word “system” may have cold connotations, conjuring images of computers and robots. But what if you just think of an assortment of complex factors that interplay to shape your personality, lifestyle, and goals?

In that sense, yes; you can certainly call yourself a system.

Things to Remember About Your System:

1) Your system needs to be resilient

The best systems aren’t just productive, but also resilient. Systems thinking is one strategy for avoiding burnout.

Feelings of fatigue or a chronic lack of motivation aren’t personal flaws. They’re just feedback loops designed to let you know your system requires maintenance if you wish to optimize its overall health.

2) Your system does not operate in isolation

As much as we may try to compartmentalize, all aspects of our lives are interconnected internally and also with aspects of others’ lives.

Creating separation might help you stay sane in most circumstances but some demand you look at your system as a whole.

For example, you may separate the image of yourself as a parent from the one you have of yourself as an executive, but even something as simple as planning a vacation affects both of those parts equally.

3) Your system thrives on harmony

Let’s use the example of parent you and executive you again. Harmony is achieved when you balance the components of each part. Then, the complete system that is YOU runs happily and effectively.

Running the executive component overtime means the parent component gets less time. When the ideal balance is thrown off, the complete system that is YOU may feel a little broken.

Take-Home Quotes from Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows

“We can’t impose our will on a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone.”

“Purposes are deduced from behavior, not from rhetoric or stated goals.”

“A change in purpose changes a system profoundly, even if every element and interconnection remains the same.”

Fishbone diagrams are the best way to list out all of the potential causes and effects of a specific event.

While it’s commonly used at work for process improvement and troubleshooting, you can adapt the concept of a fishbone diagram to everyday life situations, too!

A few ways you can use it for work purposes:

• Determine the causes of poor time management
• Get to the root of financial difficulties
• Learn what’s behind your career stagnation (skill gaps, lack of networking, etc.)
• Understand contributing factors to relationship issues

🔥 Pro-Tip: Use your business email to access hundreds of templates and invite collaborators for free!

In some fields, it could pay to emulate physicist Stephen Hawking’s philosophy on busyness.

Prolific in intellectual output and world-changing discoveries, Hawking famously eschewed the sometimes false virtue of 24/7 productivity.

He opted instead to reserve his energy and brain power for occasions when a major insight or discovery inspired work marathons. He knew that if working non-stop was his rule instead of his exception, that he wouldn’t have enough to offer those beautiful moments of discovery, which abided by no predictable schedule.

Food for thought: Are there any areas of your work or life that could benefit from this mindset? If you had complete autonomy over how you spend your time, what activities would you save your best “brain time” for?

Kanni Wignaraja, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, wrote this thought piece on leadership after the COVID-19 pandemic, which inspired people around the globe to think about leadership less prescriptively and more adaptively.

3 Wise Gems to Take Away:

Charge up your team with these fun and free icebreakers.

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? BetterHelp offers affordable online therapy on your schedule.

Restore your inner radiance with this best-selling collagen for stronger nails, shinier hair and healthy joints.

monday.com is the project management software that powers the world’s top brands — find out what all the buzz is about.

🇮🇱 Not sure what’s going on in Israel? Catch up here.

🇵🇭 Did you know October was Filipino American History Month? Read more about it here.

🔖 Catch up on all OG Tuesday newsletters here.

🏪 The Assist Store: Check out our Etsy Store or get our most popular templates for free here.

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