Are you the center of your systems?
Well, hello! After a break from blogging, this ole brain is bursting with things I want to share, but before we get into all of that, let’s hit rewind and allow me to (re)introduce myself!
Hi, I’m Stacey
Owner + doer of Monday Made! I started Monday Made as a fun experiment in project management — I love solving systems + organizational puzzles — but I quickly realized that this fun experiment was creating something important, particularly for women + non-binary business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
I created something because I needed it, and like so many folx on the internet will tell you — if you need it, someone else probably does too! So here we are, at the confluence of my work in project management, my experience running my first small business, and my lifelong journey to cultivate that delightfully comfortable work/life/anxiety balance.
How Monday Made ...got made!
It all starts with you.
Yes. You are correct. It does sound cheesy. But truth is truth!
I have tried (and abandoned) a silly amount of project / task management software, apps, and “hacks” and each time it followed a similar pattern.
First get excited and spend the better part of a day (or several) learning a new interface and getting my information into a new system.
Next try it out for a few days and tell myself, "This time I’ll stick to it, this will be the one!"
Then motivation starts to dwindle, the organization starts to get mushy, and I start reverting to less effective habits.
Finally I abandon it either deliberately or by simply forgetting about it.
Ultimately I wag a finger at myself with the same old story: if you had just been a little more consistent / tried a little harder / [fill in any other rude-to-self phrase] THEN it would have worked.
I know that I am not alone in this pattern. I have wasted a lot of time telling myself some version of “If I had just…”
I’ll tell you what else I know I’m not alone in: feeling like you’re working as hard as you possibly can.
“Just” implies that this shift is easy and that you are simply not trying hard enough. So, when you’re already feeling overwhelmed and you try a new system, where do you suppose you would just find the energy and time to make this new system work for you?
The systems you build are intended to help and support you, but far too often we build systems without ourselves in mind.
Without putting yourself and your work style at the core of the systems you build, you miss the opportunity to create something that supports you where you are and that lasts.
Self-Centered Systems
The Monday Made way is self-centered… in a good way 😉 I would argue the best way
Think of your business like a solar system, if you’re not in the center, you’re part of the orbit. It’s hard to keep a big picture in view when 1) you’re always moving, and 2) some planets stay in parallel with you, while others are much farther away and only pass by every once in a while.
Trying life hacks and quick tips and tricks can be helpful to get started, but can also become just one more thing in orbit. Space junk.
We have an undercurrent of hoping to put ourselves at the center — to make our needs a priority, respect our own boundaries, alleviate stress, make time for what matters — it’s the only reason ‘systems’ are even a conversation. But oftentimes what we’re actually doing in practice is waiting for the time when centering ourselves will be easy. Have you noticed how that time never quite seems to arrive?
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.*
If overwhelm is what you’re feeling, it means something in your system is built to deliver overwhelm. If that realization is bumming you out, take a deep breath and stay with me.
Because what that means is that it isn’t you.
It’s not because you aren’t working hard enough or you “just” need to do a little more. It’s because some pieces of your system simply aren’t the right ones. We can troubleshoot for that, and we can try something new that’s achievable and we can change the results your system delivers.
MONDAY MOMENT
Work backwards to a small, teeny tiny, way to center yourself. Don't underestimate how small it should be — we're going for ease. Think of one simple thing you’ve been meaning to do to tend to yourself.
Now, another step backwards, what would need to happen before you could tend to that need? What is needed to create the conditions for your self-centered moment to be possible? Write it down and do it every day this week, and reward yourself with a solo high-five or mini happy dance every time you do.
EXAMPLE I’ve been meaning to drink more water. In order for that to happen I need to have a glass of water next to me. So in the morning I pour a big glass of water and bring it to my desk. Simple and small.
*I had a hard time finding the correct attribution for this but my best guess is some combination of W. Edwards Deming, Earl Conway and Paul Batalden
