In your business
and your life
Sam Carpenter
will take you
one layer deeper.
The 5th Edition
is here!
Message from Sam, 8/12/2025
The 1st edition of Work was published in 2008. In this updated-for-2025/2026 edition, I’ve made the book easier to read and understand, added new insights, and briefly addressed the economic/social earthquakes of the last five years.
Yet, the “systems mindset” remains the focus. I want you to “get it.”
Bricks and mortar, virtual, retail, construction, service and/or product producer; owner-operated—large or small staff—it doesn’t matter. Whatever your business type (presuming the product or service is useful in the marketplace), dysfunction has its roots in this foundational weakness: a fire-killing, non-systematic approach by the leader. The systems mindset is utterly logical and believable, a deeper vision of how a business—and a life—mechanically unfolds.
(If you don’t operate a business, consider my other book, The Systems Mindset: Managing the Machinery of Your Life, which takes precisely the same approach but is aimed at those who don’t operate a business).
Yes, for any endeavor’s success, including a life well-lived, leadership IS everything.
The systems mindset epiphany will strike you in a single identifiable moment, never to fade. Suddenly, with this dramatically more accurate “one layer deeper” view, underlying system processes are starkly revealed, and subsequent real-life mechanical reactions and actions will be obvious. It’s not about learning something new. It’s about acquiring a more precise view of how the sights, sounds, and events of your business and your life operate. Part One of the book will guide you to this exciting epiphany.
From that point forward, life’s mechanics will make sense. You’ll never go back.
Watch the animation below.
The book is not an invitation to buy something else from me. I’ve retired from the consulting/coaching business and there is no online program. The book, and some thoughtful contemplation, is all you need.
I have many followers on my email mailing list (you can join here on this page). I send a short video or two each week.
-Sam Carpenter
A Simple Explanation of the Work the System Method
Sam’s second book, The Systems Mindset: Managing the Machinery of your Life, is for those who don’t own or manage a business. See www.thesystemsmindset.com.
The Book
Sam Carpenter’s Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less is now in its fifth edition (May 13, 2025. Since the first edition was published in 2008, tens of thousands of business owners have used the Work the System Method as a foundational guide to quickly eliminate disorder, systemizing their businesses and their lives into super-efficiency. 4,000,000+ copies distributed worldwide in English, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Romanian, Japanese and soon Spanish and Italian.
Business Documentation Software
BDS exactly conforms to the Work the System Method. It’s an intuitive and simple platform designed to make it easy for you to create, tweak and store your three primary documents as described in Part Two of Sam’s book.
BDS is simple to use. There’s no fluff or excess. It’s about “bottom up,” point-of-sale, and never-ending system improvement. Sam is not financially affiliated with BDS.
Work the System is integral to the Mindvalley operation. Simple and powerful…essential reading for the CEO.
Vishen Lakhiani
I am looking down at my business, seeing all the moving parts.
Eleanor Pinkney
Mandatory reading. Work the System liberates…
Perry Marshall
One of the most useful business books you’ll ever read.
Josh Kaufman
If you think your business can benefit from organization, efficiency and predictability, then you need to read this book.
Luke A. Mosch
Investing in WTS has been one of the most profitable decisions we’ve ever made.
Sharon Desjarlais