Building your system for your life and your work.

Your System Isn’t Universal. It’s Personal.

Most people chase the perfect system—an app, a calendar method, a workflow someone else swears by. But the real question isn’t “What’s the best system?”

It’s: Is it working—for you?

And how would you know?

W. Edwards Deming said, “Every system is perfectly designed for the results it gets.”

If your system is producing overwhelm, inconsistency, or drift, it’s not a “you” problem—it’s a design problem.

Over the years, I’ve built and rebuilt my own Life System. Not a template. Not a borrowed workflow. A system designed around how I think, work, lead, and live. It didn’t arrive fully formed. It was shaped through a simple four-step pattern:

1. Adopt

Start by borrowing models that resonate. Look for people whose lives reflect what you aspire toward—not just productivity, but pace, purpose, and integrity. Adopt their frameworks long enough to learn from them.

2. Adapt

Then adjust. Tailor. Personalize. Like David trying on Saul’s armor, some tools will fit you and some won’t. “Best practices” mean nothing if they restrict your movement. Your system should feel natural, not foreign.

3. Integrate

Standalone habits won’t carry you. Eventually, the pieces must connect—your planning, your rhythms, your goals, your calendar, your health. Well-being is when the systems reinforce and flow with one another. A system becomes powerful only when it becomes a whole.

4. Iterate

Life changes. Seasons shift. Roles evolve. Systems degrade if they aren’t reviewed, renewed, and re-aligned. Iterate with intention. Innovate when necessary.

People ask me for my systems, but the truth is: they work because they’re mine. They’re shaped by my responsibilities, my design, my season of life. Your system should be just as customized.

So begin with a model. Borrow frameworks. Study patterns. Try a process. But don’t stop there.

Build a system that fits the person you’re becoming.

And keep one question front and center:

“Is it working?”

And just as important:

“How do you know?”