Being More Skilled Is A System

We have systems underlying everything we do in our lives. Some systems prompt our awareness so that we remember to do things, some systems keep us organized so that details are more accessible. No matter what the system is designed to do, improving the systems in your life impacts you in a specific way: It decreases the amount of time and energy required to earn a certain result.

In other words, systems create leverage. Having a process to follow for a complex task is a system for streamlining efforts and reducing waste. Having a plan to go next door to the grocery store right after you work out at the gym is a system that saves you time. And interestingly enough, being more skilled at something is a system that accomplishes the same.

For a task to be completed it requires an objective amount of work. When you’re more skilled, you can do that work more efficiently. This creates leverage. Someone who is more proficient at using a tool to complete a task can objectively accomplish the same time with less time and effort. The work required to finish a task can be done with less effort.

The only way that can be possible is if you consider your skill-level to be part of the environment around a task. Either you do the work or your environment does the work for you. Through that lens, it’s probably better to think that the task is the subject and you are part of the environment that influences how the task will be completed. A person with more skills functions as a more positive environment.

So if you want to create more leverage in your life, to do more with less time and effort, developing your skills is a highly effective way to do that. Skills are built through repetition and hands-on experience, and they’re also built in learning environments related to theory. Ideally you do both. You learn the techniques and tricks that are most likely to make the action leveraged, and then you practice applying that technique as a means of implementing that leverage. 

That’s why developing skills is among the most important things you can do to increase your personal capacity and therefore, increase the ceiling of your potential. Leverage is exponential. You can also create more leverage to improve the ratio between inputs and outputs. So if you want to live an extraordinary life and make an extraordinary impact, that’s how you need to operate. Invest in building the personal, professional, emotional, and communication skills that will take you there.

If you want my help with that, click here.

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