Systems Mindset Newsletter

by Sam Carpenter on February 24, 2010

Sean Collins sent me this note re a book written in 1908, called The Human Machine. It’s an early appreciation of systems thinking… Gutenberg.org  

My friends David Walsh and Seth Hosko visited us a couple of weeks back. We made three videos and here’s the first session. Stay tuned to Muselife for the remainder of the series and the details of getting a free download of Work the System.

Here’s a post from The Rat Race Trap.

We’ve been in the Palm Springs area for the past four days where we met some new friends. Sunday night we had the enormous privilege of having dinner at the Desert Springs Hotel with economist Stephen Moore, Editorial Board Member of the Wall Street Journal. Besides a brilliant mind, Steve’s a very cool guy. More later about all this. (It appears there are some interesting things afoot for Linda and me….)

A quote from Jim Estill, from one of his recent blog postings: “I’ve noted that in myself when I have little to do, I tend to find lots to do so as a result I tend to be busy almost regardless of what’s going on in my life. Recognizing that in myself is great, because it means I can then choose what I want to be busy on. I’ve always been very big on accomplishment and achievement so I figure if I’m going to be busy I might as well be busy accomplishing something big.”

At Centratel, how did we get to the top of Google rankings in every industry-important keyword that matters (and despite the old-school web layout)? There are six simple key elements in our SEO strategy and none of them involve hiring an SEO expert. You can go to top all by yourself and without employing Tom-foolery. What are six elements? I’m thinking of discussing the details in an upcoming post. (Andi asks, “Why would you give away THAT?” She has a point. Maybe I won’t.)

Re the Centratel site: Yes, we are moving the site content from the outdated design to something more current, via WordPress. It’s in process.

Gene Burke sent this along, a quote from the artist M. C. Escher“Order is repetition of units. Chaos is multiplicity without rhythm.”

I’ve posted this quote before, but it’s too good not to put up one more time:  From BF Skinner (and via Mathew Strong): When people work only to avoid losing a job, study only to avoid failure, and treat each other well only to avoid censure or institutional punishment, the threatening contingencies generalize. It always seems as if there must be something that one ought to be doing. As a result very few people can simply do nothing. They can relax only with the help of sedatives or tranquilizers, or by deliberately practicing relaxation. They can sleep only with the help of sleeping pills, of which billions are sold in the West every year. They are puzzled by, and envy, those in less developed countries whom they see happily doing nothing.

This is my quote: People say we were put on this earth for a reason. I disagree.  I believe being put here as a gift. And part of that gift is that we are free to make of life what we want.

So, don’t blow it.

Photo by See1,Do1,Reach1 via flickr used under a creative Commons License.

 

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The Beauty of Written Policies

February 15, 2010

(This is an excerpt from,  Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less.)
Several years ago we had problems with two Centratel employees. The first one’s work was very good, but he failed a random drug test. The second one’s work quality was also exceptional, but she violated our computer privacy policy.  [...]

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Systems Mindset Newsletter

February 8, 2010

Our new friends David Walsh and Seth Hosko visited us here in Bend over the weekend, staying at our house. Experts at the tools and practicalities of lifestyle-design (they like to call it, “ultra-mobility”), we recorded a series of videos and spent much time discussing the science of becoming free and wealthy while having a Hell of a [...]

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We’re Not Building a Clock!

February 2, 2010

(This is an excerpt from my book Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less.)

Back in the mid-80’s, I was an inspector working with construction crews that build overhead transmission lines. Following detailed written designs and carefully surveyed routes, the crews use massive crane trucks to insert enormous seventy-eighty-foot wood poles in the [...]

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Reactionary

January 19, 2010

The trauma in Haiti is horrible. And not too long ago there was the earthquake nightmare in Pakistan/Azad Kashmir, and just before that, the tsunami in Southeast Asia. Major loss-of-life tragedies of this sort are the predictable result of natural catastrophe combined with non-existent building code, social safety net and security/police systems.
I dedicate this post to first responders the [...]

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Parenting is a Job: The Systems Mindset Dissection

January 5, 2010

Family

(Readership of this blog stretches to over 120 countries, but as I prepared to post this particular essay I realized the message is most applicable to parents in the western world, parents who have the luxury to over-complicate things. Parents in the developing world, where basic survival is often the day’s challenge, will intuitively understand the mechanical sensibility of what I discuss here.)
Flash! Your child doesn’t need [...]

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Your Intuitive Leap is Imminent

December 22, 2009

It’s the time of year when we drop our defenses and say a simple thank you. And with the new year, it’s the perfect time to try a new life-approach if the current one hasn’t been working out so well.
You’ve heard it before. Maybe a parent told you or you read about  it or otherwise recall rumors of it. You may have even seen an occasional glimpse of it. But if [...]

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Interview With a Capitalist

December 15, 2009

Young Russians: Socialists or Capitalists?
This is not a political blog. It’s a “systems mindset” blog.
In my December 1st post,  Socialism & Capitalism: The Systems Mindset Dissection, my primary message is not about which system is best (although, as an aside, one certainly is more efficient than the other). I use real-life topics like this to illustrate the systems [...]

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Socialism & Capitalism: The Systems Mindset Dissection

December 1, 2009

In the three maps above: Note the congruency between economic freedom and personal wealth. Let’s find the connection.
I post this on December 1, 2009: Exactly 25 years ago today I went into business for myself. This analysis is a thank you to an economic system that works.
This is a two week post because it’s a long one and covers a lot of [...]

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Deflation, Inflation and the Beast I Won’t Buy

November 24, 2009

Before reading this post, take a moment to review some Work the System tenets:

The simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation
The world is not a confused mass of sights, sounds and events. It’s a collection of systems.
A system has a single primary purpose
An efficient system that is disrupted by an exterior force will become less efficient
In most [...]

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