How to Build a Cornerstone System

When you start using the systems and habits approach to improvement, you will try out many strategies for creating new habits. You will break down your goals into steps that can be taken and then work on the necessary action steps.

This will result in some systems that work and some that get tossed away due to their inability to help you improve. But within those that work, some will rise and become cornerstone systems. Cornerstone systems are the ones that drive multiple areas of improvement and allow you to keep systematically improving over time.

Cornerstone systems are a form of leverage. Remove most of the systems but keep these and you will still go in the right direction. But when they get abandoned, they take down other areas and drag you away from your idea of success and happiness.

Early in my systems work, I realized that this cornerstone system drives so much value and helps keep you centered. It starts to redefine who you are as a person.

In several businesses that I helped operate, I looked to data for one of the cornerstone systems. I looked for indicators that helped determine what is on track and what problem areas pop up. I would run several reports each morning that would give me a temperature check on the operations. I would run weekly or monthly reports to track trends. This allowed me to see what others missed.

For my personal life, I use a data tracking system as a cornerstone system as well. By weighing myself each morning and logging it, I can see trends over time. Am I getting better? Am I letting myself go? Are the exercises causing me to gain weight?

This data prevents areas from catching me off guard. I already know the trends and what is happening. I know what I am doing each day and what causes ups and downs.

Data is important because it is objective. It clearly highlights if I am on track or off track. Then, I leverage that cornerstone system by making tweaks to remain on track. If I am off track for a few days, I investigate to determine what I could do better.

The data system is highly leverageable and impacts so many other systems. It shows me what is happening. At various points I tracked aspects such as my daily contentment, my exercise routines, my writing, work on my website, applications to jobs, etc. I tend to use process metrics over outcome metrics to help show that I am doing the right things that drive to the right outcomes.

Another method for establishing a cornerstone system is to create your daily routines. It could be your morning routine or night routine. It could be a routine after work or during lunch. The key is that the routine occurs daily and runs through several steps.

The science of habits points to the value of this approach. We know that every response follows a cue and we can use the ending of the previous step as the cue for the next action. So, using a routine we can float through a series of actions that touches many areas.

Here is an example from my own life. Fifteen-plus years ago I started using a recumbent bike in the morning. Because I can start slow and it creates energy instead of draining energy from me, it has become the perfect morning starter for someone who isn’t a morning person.

Early in the establishment of that step, I recognized that by creating a habit to immediately get out of bed and drag myself to that bike it felt so natural that days when I don’t do this I feel off. I become sluggish and tired if I skip it. I have a mental cloudiness and a general negative attitude towards the day.

But get me on that bike, as I do almost every morning, and I am soon refreshed, energized, calm, content, inspired, and able to come up with creative solutions to problems. Looking at this one step in my routine you can see the value it provides. It allows me to leverage it to create better days.

But the bike is only one small part of my morning routine. If all I did was bike, I would not see the full benefit. It is the multiple aspects I stack together that truly brings usefulness.

I bought a tall table to place over the bike. When I jump on the bike, I open my computer, put on headphones, and bring up positive, energetic music (often reggae). This starts to get me moving without thinking about the movement. It just starts to happen, and I start to feel energy surging through my body.

As I bike and listen passively to music, I grab a positive book to read. It could be motivational books, business books, biographies, military history books, sports books, etc. The key is that it holds my attention (without commercials interfering) and distracts me from the discomfort of exercise and replacing it with positive thought.

This has allowed me to read hundreds of books over the past 15 years. Initially each book I read seemed to provide immense wisdom. After reading hundreds of these books, I find the value is in being plugged into so many strategies and ideas. Learning about history, success, happiness, psychology, etc. places that insight into my daily frame of reference.

Every day I pull different references from this material to help me make decisions. It almost feels like there are all these people providing me personal guidance. Authors are all writing to give valuable wisdom to the reader from their own experiences. Why not take that and use it to benefit your life? That is why they do it and it is often free by grabbing the latest book from the library.

By reading so many books, I can rely on wisdom of the Tao Te Ching one minute and then wisdom from Peter Senge the next. I can think about a problem from the perspective of some highly educated researcher or business tycoon. I can learn to be innovative and then learn how to use self-talk to give me the confidence to go forward.

After reading for a bit, I turn to writing. I have found that by reading it and then writing my own perspective on that insight helps me to structure it in my head. I remember it by how I interpret it. This also helped me write hundreds of blog articles for ScottMiker.com and several books.

When I am ready to start the day, I finish my routine with strength training, stretching, eating a nutritious breakfast, and drinking a large glass of water.

This routine has lasted over time and continues to provide value. It has changed at times and I have been able to incorporate variability into it, but it remains fairly consistent. To keep it short and succinct, I may do a brief version of certain steps. Or, I cut them out entirely for a day, or week, or longer.

Because the main steps are so ingrained in my life, I can adjust throughout the routine to tailor it perfectly to what I have available that day. If I need to get to work early, I can tighten it up. If I have a weekend with nothing scheduled I can extend it (which I am doing with this article as I sit here typing, pedaling, and listen to reggae artist Clinton Fearon). If I am sore from a previous workout I can replace strength training today with more stretching. I have adjusted to practice guitar or singing, study a topic for a training course, get fresh air by then going for a short jog on a nice day, recording music, etc. It is flexible but rock solid at the same time.

This morning routine has come to define me. Almost every observation from others can be traced back to this process. Every achievement became possible because of this process, not despite it. It continues in the background driving me forward and giving me the ability to control my life and what I want for it.

I can use the calm, positive energy and insight to help others. I can learn a new topic that might help me down the road. I stay up to date on the latest business guru or strategic approach to grow a business. From the many psychology books, I’ve learned how to remain calm in the face of stress and release tension. I’ve learned from masterminds such as Michael A. Singer and his Untethered Soul books. I’ve learned how to create Luck from Janice KIaplan, Barnaby Marsh, and poker legend Annie Duke.  I’ve gained insight into being resilient and using Grit from pioneering psychologist Amanda Duckworth.

For years, I took much of this for granted. It was just what I did to remain healthy and keep improving. But through all the ups and downs of life, all the changes and rites of passage, the businesses and jobs, those two routines remain. The data gives me insight into what is happening, and the morning routine applies almost everything important for me to each day. These 2 cornerstone systems have given me confidence that through it all I can count on it to be there creating the person I am. They allowed me to build other cornerstone systems, such as how I budget and spend money, how I order food at restaurants, and how I respond to a stressful day at work.

Over fifteen years ago, I just wanted to do something to get my life back on track. I was unhealthy, depressed, anxious, overwhelmed, eating junk food all day and drinking all night. I was a mess. I just wanted some sliver of hope that life would get better.

I read The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and borrowed my grandparent’s old, unused, ancient-looking exercise bike after they passed away. Who knew at that point in time that my life made a 180-degree turn to head off in a new direction, one filled with contentment, success, joy, improvement, knowledge, and most importantly, hope.

Find and build your cornerstone systems. Leverage the insight others graciously provide to learn how to build the life you deserve. Design your life, don’t just accept whatever is given to you after everyone else takes what they want. Once you do, you will have more than you need and will pass along to others the hope for improvement.