Manage the ups and downs

The systems and habits approach to improvement is a powerful way to achieve happiness and success by redesigning our life. We take the daily routines and adjust them until they start to provide us with the prosperity and bliss we crave.

The key is consistency. We have to be consistent enough to take these adjustments and form new habits from them. Without habits we fall short. Willpower is fleeting and motivation hides when we need it most.

Therefore, we rely on systematic change. We adjust elements of the system to build a better process that we can use to grow.

Consistency is a requirement. Habit will never form with half-hearted, sporadic attempts. We need to keep going back to the same positive steps.

But life is full of ebbs and flows. There are ups and downs. We experience times when everything seems great and times when life becomes unbearable.

The systems and habits approach is a tool that I have used to reduce the impact of these ups and downs. It helps even things out a bit.

It takes the up moments and helps us remain humble. We know there is more work to do. A sudden success doesn’t throw us off track, it helps us justify all the work we have done.

It takes those down moments and helps us keep going. We don’t throw away all the progress we made, crashing to the bottom. We keep going. We might have to reduce our minimums, but we don’t cut off the system.

Doing this will further solidify the systems in your life. After a low point you will become more confident, knowing that this adversity didn’t drown you. You made it through. Sure, you had to adjust and slow down the pace. But you kept at it. You fought through.

The more consistent we are, through the ups and downs, the more likely the designed steps continue. Instead of reverting to bad habit, we flush that away and replace it with positive moves in the right direction.

So, if you find yourself at the top, don’t get sucked in. Don’t let your ego tell you how perfect you are and how you don’t have to keep working hard. Don’t let your monkey brain convince you that you are somehow better than everyone else and can shortcut the work.

If you find yourself in a rough patch, don’t let the negativity win. Don’t stop working to design your life and the steps you take. Use this as fuel to inspire you to keep on going.

After about 15 years of working the systems and habits approach to improvement, I’ve had my share of ups and downs.

This doesn’t mean the ups are more glorious or the downs or more painful. It means I’ve been able to see how the key was to keep going. We can’t get swayed by the current season. We have to see the bigger picture.

The systems and habits approach works. It helps improve almost any aspect of your life. If you take it seriously and follow the steps, you will see success. The most common failures come when things get too easy, or things get too hard. Those are the moments worth fighting for to make sure we keep going.