Being Systematic – An essential ingredient of Simplicity

Systematic means setting up Systems. Systems for everyday or periodic activities. The focus of it is to simplify our lives.

WHAT IT WON’T DO

Being Systematic won’t increase your productivity, neither will it increase your efficiency. Some people misunderstand it as implying an increase in their finances, but there is no guarantee of it. It won’t increase the time in your day; you won’t have 24+ hours in a day, as opposed to just 24 earlier.

Example – Collecting and depositing dividend cheques in your bank account.

WHAT IT WILL DO

Being Systematic will reduce the inefficiencies that you encounter, depending on how much systematic you become. It brings clarity and helps identify what is necessary and what is not. It frees up the time that would have been wasted on mundane stuff otherwise. Now what you do with that time depends on you. You can use it for rejuvenating yourself, doing things you love, spending time with family, etc.

Example – Dividends are deposited directly in your bank account via a standing instruction.

By now, you must have decided if you want to be systematic or not. If YES, then proceed ahead; if not, do whatever you want to do.

HOW TO BE SYSTEMATIC

It’s very simple.

1. Begin by deciding which activities in your life you want to systemize and write them down.
2. Then, write down the processes you have been following to accomplish them.
3. Put this list aside for a while.
4. The next step is essential (you will have to adopt the right mindset for it). In order to systemize your work, you will have to first systemize your thoughts or clear your mind. The process is similar to the one mentioned in the reading guide:
   • Get to a quiet place.
   • Sit there for some time until your mind automatically gets calm.
5. Once it’s done, you will be ready to proceed.
6. Now get back to your list.
7. Go through the activities one by one and think about how you can accomplish them simply and quickly.
8. Sit there for some time with it.
9. Write down the answers you find. Sometimes it may be to weed out some steps in the process you were following earlier, sometimes it may involve entirely new approaches.
10. Once you have found all your answers, begin the crucial step of putting the answers you found into action.

PS: The mindset is very important; you should do the process only when in the right mindset; otherwise, take a break.