“I Need Systems I Can’t Screw Up”

I’m sitting in the Northfield Williams Coffee Pub in Waterloo with Benjamin Bach the other day, and he pulls out this little stack of recipe cards held together with a binder clip. Now, you need to know that Ben is an extremely bright and tech-savvy guy – so I’m instantly intrigued by what is obviously some kind of very low-tech self-management system.

To my inquiring glance Ben announces, “I need systems I can’t screw up”.

I thought that was a pretty profound statement, and in fact would be a helpful mantra for the business world in general.

Ben goes on to describe how he’s used Blackberries, notebooks, etc., and found there was always something that made the arrangement break down. Owning an HP IPAQ that sits in my purse much of the time, and which hasn’t yet leaped out to update/recharge itself while I slept, I could really relate.

So here’s what he’s got on the individual cards: his goals for the week, his immediate to-do list, his want-to-read list, and so on. He’s chosen to include everything that’s necessary for strategic decision-making throughout the day – and nothing else. Nothing to distract him from fulfilling his life purpose each and every moment of the day.

I thought that was pretty cool.

BTW, the address is www.benjaminbach.com.

For more posts on this subject of self- and time-management:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/the-power-of-good-old-checklists.html

http://www.jimestill.com

If you know some other great resources on this theme, I'd love to hear about them - thanks!