Thinking 'systematically' enables us to approach any goal, problem or
situation with a greater confidence than if we're just following the
principle of 'suck it and see'.
To think 'systematically' it helps if we understand what the component parts of a 'system' are in order to ensure we address each of those parts in our planning and actions.
The Systems Model:
We call a single rotation of events, with a beginning, middle and end a 'cycle' (our lifecycle, for example, only happens once); but a repeating cycle, in which those events come round ag
ain and again, is known as a 'system' (eg our life cycle begetting another life cycle is known as our 'reproductive system').
A 'system' is a continually repeating 'cycle'. Systems consist of 5 key elements:
1 The Environment
2 Inputs
3 Processes
4 Outputs
5 Feedback Mechanisms.
If you want to think 'systematically' you must consider all of these 5 elements in order to get the full big picture in regard to any area of life you pay attention to.
Let's take the area of 'shopping', for example:
1 The Environment
Which shops do you like going to? Which shops do you get good customer service in? Which shops provide good nearby parking or have facilities you prefer to other shopping environments? Your shopping system works best when you think about your various shopping environments and remove those shops whose environments don't suit your needs from your list of shops to go to.
2 Inputs
Inputs are the things you put into your shopping system and they could include information; physical resources and the people you take with you on our shopping trips (include yourself in the inputs list!).
Shopping lists; shopping bags; discount vouchers; budget information - these are all inputs to your shopping system.
3 Processes and Activities
These are the things you do when you've started shopping and you have certain actions you perform to ensure shopping takes place - do you check food labels? Do you match purchased goods against your shopping list and then stop or do you do impulse buying too? How do you pay for your goods - cash, card?
4 Outputs
These are the goods we expect to come out with as a result of our shopping. In fact, we probably start out on our shopping journey with a strong idea of what kind of outputs we're going to want in the first place.
5 Feedback
Did the outputs we received (that is, the shopping we bought) match what was on our shopping list? With feedback we compare actual results against expected results and then go on to amend the inputs and maybe even the environments we go to next time our shopping cycle occurs.
And if you do this already, which almost everyone I know does, well done you and congratulations - you have the ability to think systematically and you didn't even know it.
You can take this 5 element model and use it as a template over any area of your life and you will be able to plan and improve on each systemic part.
As the system travels like a rotating wheel through time you can continue to tweak any of these 5 system parts with the intention of creating gradual and sustained improvements.
To think 'systematically' it helps if we understand what the component parts of a 'system' are in order to ensure we address each of those parts in our planning and actions.
The Systems Model:
We call a single rotation of events, with a beginning, middle and end a 'cycle' (our lifecycle, for example, only happens once); but a repeating cycle, in which those events come round ag
ain and again, is known as a 'system' (eg our life cycle begetting another life cycle is known as our 'reproductive system').
A 'system' is a continually repeating 'cycle'. Systems consist of 5 key elements:
1 The Environment
2 Inputs
3 Processes
4 Outputs
5 Feedback Mechanisms.
If you want to think 'systematically' you must consider all of these 5 elements in order to get the full big picture in regard to any area of life you pay attention to.
Let's take the area of 'shopping', for example:
1 The Environment
Which shops do you like going to? Which shops do you get good customer service in? Which shops provide good nearby parking or have facilities you prefer to other shopping environments? Your shopping system works best when you think about your various shopping environments and remove those shops whose environments don't suit your needs from your list of shops to go to.
2 Inputs
Inputs are the things you put into your shopping system and they could include information; physical resources and the people you take with you on our shopping trips (include yourself in the inputs list!).
Shopping lists; shopping bags; discount vouchers; budget information - these are all inputs to your shopping system.
3 Processes and Activities
These are the things you do when you've started shopping and you have certain actions you perform to ensure shopping takes place - do you check food labels? Do you match purchased goods against your shopping list and then stop or do you do impulse buying too? How do you pay for your goods - cash, card?
4 Outputs
These are the goods we expect to come out with as a result of our shopping. In fact, we probably start out on our shopping journey with a strong idea of what kind of outputs we're going to want in the first place.
5 Feedback
Did the outputs we received (that is, the shopping we bought) match what was on our shopping list? With feedback we compare actual results against expected results and then go on to amend the inputs and maybe even the environments we go to next time our shopping cycle occurs.
And if you do this already, which almost everyone I know does, well done you and congratulations - you have the ability to think systematically and you didn't even know it.
You can take this 5 element model and use it as a template over any area of your life and you will be able to plan and improve on each systemic part.
As the system travels like a rotating wheel through time you can continue to tweak any of these 5 system parts with the intention of creating gradual and sustained improvements.
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