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lessons learned from building systems that have nothing to do with apps
"Personal systems" is an unhelpfully broad term that encompasses the systems and workflows we put in place for ourselves, that help us do ~life~ in our own way. Personal systems, in my view, range from your task management system, to your system for food shopping, to your reading workflows. They're either digital (these are the ones I love writing about) or physical. They’re subjective of course, and no words can ever account for all experiences of them.
The best I can do then, as a content creator who loves writing about systems, is to share what I've learned, and you can take what resonates and leave what doesn't.
So here are 10 things I've learned about personal systems, and some anecdotes to explain these points further:
Understanding yourself is crucial
Systems need a goal personalised to you
The systems themselves should be personalised too
Systems change over time
Embrace this change
Experimentation is key; this is how you deal with the changes
Reflect on those experiments
Efficiency doesn't have to be the primary goal
Simplicity is subjective
The journey is part of the process
Building personal systems is about understanding yourself.
Points 1-3
Systems need a goal. Using the examples above: to manage your tasks, to eat well, to get what you want from reading. But to build personal systems is to understand yourself and build something from that. That is not easy, it takes time and experimentation.
I experimented a lot with productivity systems this year, because I couldn't find a full solution. I used my realisation that my brain is a chaos-filled-palace-of-tangents-and-randomness to free myself from the expectation that I must shrink myself into a linear productivity set up. By this, I mean that so many people seem to think of a task and just do it, and that's why checkbox lists work for them. They do not work for me.
me (by me)
I tried every app I came across and I wrote down the results of my trials in Obsidian (I was using Obsidian Publish at the time). It doesn't matter where you write things down but I recommend doing so because helps you work out where to go next.
After a few months of realising I couldn't find an app that did what I wanted out of the box, I started to treat my quest like a complex problem to solve. I decided to map everything out, and work out a solution from there. Except I didn’t need to spend long mapping anything out because the answer soon became clear: I needed properties/metadata, therefore needed to try a database app. Then a different round of testing began— first with Tana, then Notion, then Fibery. This gave me the custom set up I needed.
Eventually I solved my problem with Todoist x Fibery x Zapier. I would never have got there without understanding that my chaotic brain is not best suited to checklists, and therefore that looking outside of traditional task apps was probably a good place to start.
So building systems is actually an exercise in understanding yourself and using that as fuel for your problem solving. How do you work, how do you feel, how do you get the best out of yourself? I don't know about you, but these are not questions I just know the answer to. I have to think, experiment, reflect. That's what journalling and/or note-taking can help with.
To go with this, you need a willingness to experiment with apps and systems because there is no one-size-fits-all set up. But doing the thinking and testing along the way gave me tangible results and information to take forward to find the system that works for me. It was a valuable experience, and I'd recommend this process to anyone.
Your systems will change because you change, so you have to embrace the changes. If not embrace, give them some air time at least.
Points 4-7
But, we know that any set ups that do work for you will still see change. I wrote a whole post about why systems change, and I stand by everything I said in there. I just want to develop one point a little further.
Accepting that change in ourselves prompts changes to our systems is one thing, actually knowing what changes to make and when to make them is entirely different.
I personally find it a bit uncomfortable even if I know it's needed. For example, I started to feel a quiet discomfort opening Notion and Akiflow at the start of this year and I was so confused at this because they'd been working fine beforehand. But that's just it- they had been working fine then but things were changing. My job and business changed, as did everything else about my life given we moved house, towns and lifestyles. Things just weren't working the same and opening Akiflow made me feel like I was going back in time to the overwhelm of the pre-house move days and that did not spark joy to say the least.
So in this changing season of life, I found myself wanting to shed parts of my systems that so clearly belonged to a previous one and I found myself feeling guilty about it! But I had to experiment because those feelings were there for a reason. So I experimented moving things to Capacities and was very happy (a surprise to no one). I couldn't have done this before, because I relied on the automation suite Notion had for a lot of things, but life actually got a whole lot simpler in this new season, so I could let go and streamline into Capacities.
But given I still use loads of apps around Capacities, my simpler system probably still isn't "simple" in the eyes of many. This doesn't matter though. I will stick with it until something else needs to change and that's when the experiments will start again. More experimentation is ok, just make sure you've got somewhere to note down what you learn about yourself along the way. This is great information that will help you time and time again.
Efficiency isn't the standard
Points 8-10
Let's talk more on this "keep it simple" claim (alongside other related claims). I am happy for people who manage their whole life in Apple Notes checklists so they can smile with assurance when they see the bell curve meme. I’m happy for them not because they’ve achieved the supposed gold standard of simplicity, but because they have a system that works for them. Is that not all we're trying to do?
But the more these ideas of simple checklists and an all-in-one app are pushed, people start to believe it's a hard truth with no room for revaluation of our unique differences or needs. This is certainly how I felt in 2020 when I first got into this space. Everything was about efficiency and trying the one app that would change everything (Roam or Notion then). Finding my app would solve everything and I would never have to leave the app because changing apps is also bad. But that held me back a lot! When I gave in and started testing new apps, I ended up on a fabulous journey of personal discovery which has led to this post, I guess!
I am not suggesting that simple checklists or an all-in-one app are bad. My point is that their standard is not universal. How do we measure how simple or efficient a personal system is when the operative word there is "personal"? So I try to bring in different sides of the argument whilst always accepting that many people will see things differently. Take what resonates and leave what doesn't.
With this in mind, I recently re-evaluated what efficiency means in personal systems. I think that efficiency isn't the standard, it is a standard you can choose to prioritise if that's your thing.
It's probably fair to say some systems need to be more efficient that others. For example, your morning routine probably need to be efficient if there is only one bus you can catch from your rural village to get you into the city (currently having flashbacks to school).
But does your reading system need to be efficient? Does your weekly review need to be efficient? I don’t think so. Do you need to assess the effectiveness in how you learn through books on a Sunday afternoon? I don't think so. But just because I don’t think so doesn’t mean I judge you if you do think so. I cannot stress this enough, all we need to do is build systems that work for us. None of us should judge. You do you!
If you’re interested in my approach, I’d say that the standard I aim for is “enjoyable systems”. Some of my systems are enjoyable and efficient (by my personal standards), and others are just enjoyable. It took me a long time to get here, but I’m convinced I’ve found my way.
So if you're reading content at the weekend that preaches efficiency and simplicity but their version of this just doesn't feel right to you right now, don't worry about it. Do what works, change when it doesn't and try to work out why it wasn't working. Chances are this will teach you something about yourself, and that's information you can use in the future to continue to tweak systems that work for you right now.
Conclusion
It would be easy to challenge me on this post and say "ok, well define simple and efficient before you say anything against these definitions". You'd have a fair point. But I believe spending our time working out a definition and trying to apply it to what we're doing misses what's important, and that's doing something for you. If people spend so much time worrying about defining a simple system based on what they’ve seen others write about, and then whether their version aligns with it, they're not doing what they wanted to do.
You don't set out to build a simple system. You set out to build a system for tasks, for food shopping, for self care. Think about adjusting your systems later, but get stuck in, give things a go and reflect on what works and what doesn't.
The singular goal of a personal system is to find what works for you. You're the only person with those answers, so taking the time to engage with yourself, your habits and your brain is so important. This is what will support you in the future as our systems inevitably change.
Enjoy the journey! 🎢
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