Contact Us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right. 

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

Improving Systems and Habits

Using systems and habits to improve your life is a proven method to succeed. It requires seeing the work as a system and then adjusting your thoughts and behaviors to be able to take advantage of your opportunities in life.

The power of daily gratitude

Scott Miker

We have all heard that we should be more grateful. We should learn to appreciate things in life. We should avoid entitlement.

If we develop an extreme entitlement mindset it is likely to create lasting obstacles in life. If we feel we are owed a great deal, without working for it, we will start to shun hard work because we don’t feel it is fair.

Read More

We are products of our systems

Scott Miker

Years ago, I worked with someone who started at the bottom of the organization and worked her way to the top. She kept increasing her power in the organization at each step. She was reliable and found ways to succeed, regardless of the task.

Coworkers at each level seemed to identify with her. They seemed to be in sync in their thoughts of the organization and ways to improve it.

Read More

5 Tips To Create Healthier Habits

Scott Miker

Many of us like the idea of leading a healthier lifestyle but are held back by bad habits. Creating healthy habits isn’t always an easy ride, but it is achievable with a little perseverance. To help you get on track today, try these five pointers.

Read More

You have the tools

Scott Miker

When my grandmother passed away, I moved into her house. My family didn’t want to sell it right away, so I moved in. I lived there for a few years, bought the house, then eventually sold the house.

In the house, I found all sorts of old tools and equipment. Shovels and racks for the yard. Screwdrivers and hammers in the basement. It was a fully equipped house, yet I didn’t know many of the items we found.

Read More

Why Taking Regular Breaks Is One Of The Most Important Habits Of Successful People

Scott Miker

Taking breaks at work is so important but a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that more breaks mean less productivity. It’s a common misconception that hours worked equals output and if you take fewer breaks, you’ll get more done.

Some people also consider it to be lazy if you take regular breaks, which leads to people overworking themselves and eating lunch at their desk instead of taking some time away. But learning how to take regular breaks will actually benefit your work in a lot of ways. These are some of the reasons that it’s important to take breaks at work.

Read More

Solving Problems Within Your Business System

Scott Miker

Applying a system thinking approach to your business is highly beneficial. The tools and analysis used can help you increase your output by tweaking your input. Systems theory is particularly effective at pinpointing and solving the main problems in your business. In fact, this is one of the reasons people are encouraged to take up this approach. It can help you find answers and solutions that would otherwise escape your gaze.

Read More

The problem with inconsistency

Scott Miker

Inconsistent actions cause most people to struggle. These individuals put in the work. They put forth the effort to succeed. But because they are inconsistent, they don’t reach the levels of success and happiness that they deserve.

Our society doesn’t put enough emphasis on the importance of consistency. We attract to the outlier events, so we gloss over the common patterns.

Read More

Finding new ways to improve

Scott Miker

The systems and habits approach to improvement relies on constantly tweaking your daily behaviors. We develop standard ways of doing things and then work to adjust them to provide greater benefit.

We look for ways to improve what we are doing. We test those tactics. Then, if they provide a better outcome, we standardize them so we can continue using those optimal tactics.

Read More

Move beyond words

Scott Miker

Everyone has an opinion. Some openly share their opinion all the time. They feel that by arguing their side, others will see the truth in their words and take on their opinion.

But this doesn’t happen. In fact, the more people argue about their position, the more they dig in. They refuse to accept any contradictory facts. In their mind they are right. Their thoughts work overtime to disprove any information that says they might be incorrect.

Read More

Leverage Points in a Balancing Feedback Loop

Scott Miker

When we explore systems, we notice several patterns and structures. One is the balancing feedback loop. This occurs when there is a balancing force holding the output of the system within a specific range.

This can be a good thing. The thermostat in your house keeps the output (temp in your home) consistent. Instead of fluctuating wildly, it remains a comfortable temperature.

Read More

Do you really want to be united?

Scott Miker

The other day I was listening to some reggae music and scrolling through a news article. The song spoke about unity and peace. It promoted the idea that the world is too fragmented and needs to unite.

I thought it was funny that I was reading an article promoting the same concept. But as the song went on I started to realize that the message sounded as though it was about unity but it wasn’t. The singer wanted the other side to give up and adopt the singer’s beliefs.

Read More

Rigid Systems Become Obsolete

Scott Miker

Systems need to be flexible. They may withstand some change and maintain their integrity but in time there will be a need to change the system.

Some people feel this is bad. If it works why change it? If it isn’t broke, why look for a fix?

Read More

We are primed for instant gratification

Scott Miker

Humans have evolved to put more value in the current moment than in the future. We want happiness, success, pleasure, etc. now. We want to avoid pain, discomfort, and struggle.

This makes sense on many levels and helped the earliest humans. But in today’s world, this leads us to make poor decisions.

Read More

You have to take risks at some point

Scott Miker

COVID-19 has impacted everyone. We all had to learn how to change to stay safe. We all had to figure out the level of risk that we were willing to take in daily activities.

Want to go buy some milk? Never before has there been a risk such as this. Want to keep working to make an income to support yourself and your family, that comes with risk. Forced to stay home and close your business? That comes with risk as well.

Read More

Don’t let chaos turn into panic

Scott Miker

Life can be chaotic. We all experience ups and downs in life. Some of these are natural, such as our aging through time, and other times this is unexpected.

Regardless of why, the impact is real. It feels as though complexity has overcome our world and stolen control. Without control, we start to get anxious. For many, this leads to a panicked mindset.

Read More

Empathy comes from windows to other parts of the system

Scott Miker

It seems in our world today empathy is not promoted. Instead we get messages of hatred, unfairness, and threat.

We see it on the news reports of violence. We hear it in the political speeches about the evils of the opposing party. We experience in the cut-throat work environments where everyone tries to better themselves. It grabs our attention from the constant shouting of marketing messages. These all seem to be void of empathy.

Read More

Habits are misunderstood

Scott Miker

There is a lot of misunderstanding around habits. Some people feel that habit only refers the small number of behaviors that we dislike but do anyways. They think about biting their nails. They remember when they had a smoking habit.

Even science has come out with misinformation. Many people have heard about the studies that show a habit takes 21 days to form. They say that is average but almost all habits fit into this structure. But this is completely incorrect.

Read More

You have control within the system

Scott Miker

People often look to systems as the cause of unhappiness in the world. They argue that systems are creating victims. If someone is not happy and successful, then the system must be unjust.

Judging systems leads us to believe that they are like people, acting towards their goal or mission. We can see an “evil” system form and then those hurt by the system become victims.

Read More

Slow down do not stop

Scott Miker

When things get difficult, many people see two options. They can push through and handle the stress and discontent. Or they can quit and do something else.

I see it all the time. When we are trying to self-improve, we start to fall into a rut. Everything seems to be more difficult than it should be. Our progress slows and might even seem like we are going backwards.

Read More

Ways to leverage your work and increase outcomes

Scott Miker

There are many ways to leverage the work that you do with systems and habits to get the most from it. Most of my articles focus on getting started. The difficulty exists for most in the early stages of learning to use systems to improve. Once you get the hang of it, you can transfer that insight into many other areas of your life.

But some people get stuck after they form the right habits. They want to get more out of them. They want more bang for their buck. What they want is to leverage what they have done to get even more value from their processes.

Read More