Are All Things Systematizable?

Just finished another new-ish bestselling housekeeping book, and the author is lauded as a "systems expert." I could be seeing systems everywhere just because I am a Permie, or it really could be that systems-thinking is more trendy these last few years. Either way, I have been pondering, "Is virtually everything in my daily life part of some sort of 'system' and it might benefit me to optimize things with that lens?"

They have long referred to planners (a.k.a. 'diaries' across the pond!) as 'organizing systems'. Housekeeping systems. Electrical and plumbing systems. School systems. Hmmmmm...how has this been right under my nose all my life and I never thought about it before?

Do I need to be a Systems Expert or an expert on my own systems? (Or both--ha!)

Whether known or unnoticed, nature itself is an interconnected system of systems (SoS).

I think Permaculture attempts to mimic that, at a high level, moving beyond observation, interaction, and imitation.

How difficult can it be to recognize one system, and to look for the points where other systems "plug in" to that system, and what sorts of benefits are derived?

Maybe quite difficult in some cases, like Wohleben's popular book "The hidden life of trees" where he presented the idea that tree roots and mycorrhizae hook up to connect entire forests, sharing information and nutrients through that web.

Very interesting to think about...

j

Nearly everything is part of multiple systems.  Many of them overlap and most have both positive and negative feedback loops present.  Only things that are dependent on truly randomness can be outside a system and even most of those are parts of some system.

Yes, the natural world is interlocking systems, and the man made world can be systemized pretty easily by putting thought into it. You mentioned housekeeping, I owned a commercial janitorial service at one point, and did VERY well with it, because I can make a super effective system for cleaning places. Most other cleaning services focused on "how  fast can we get in and out and do a good enough job that they don't complain" where I focused on "how can we best keep this place spotless, with effective time use" and THAT is a whole different question. We were in and out in the same time as the other cleaners, but it was spotless all the time, just due to thinking on it as a system and designing for effectiveness.

There's a financial blog I like that was talking about Gross National Product, but the concept works everywhere "We optimize what we measure." How can you measure your housework? I measured office cleaning by time expended vs results, I don't know how you'd want to measure effective housework, but you might think on it.

"Is virtually everything in my daily life part of some sort of 'system' and it might benefit me to optimize things with that lens?"  YES. And you can make good systems (where things get done) or crappy ones (where you have to yell at others or let things go till they rot) but it's still A SYSTEM. Just a matter of whether it's a USEFUL to you system, and whether you need to change it.

:D

Pearl Sutton wrote: Most other cleaning services focused on "how  fast can we get in and out and do a good enough job that they don't complain" where I focused on "how can we best keep this place spotless, with effective time use" and THAT is a whole different question.  We were in and out in the same time as the other cleaners, but it was spotless all the time, just due to thinking on it as a system and designing for effectiveness.

I love this! So thinking about things in a useful way is the first step. However, this is hard for me as my brain is bound by precedent, bad habits, and laziness among other things. How do you ask yourself "the right" (useful) questions to help you build those useful sytems?

Pearl Sutton wrote:"Is virtually everything in my daily life part of some sort of 'system' and it might benefit me to optimize things with that lens?"  YES. And you can make good systems (where things get done) or crappy ones (where you have to yell at others or let things go till they rot) but it's still A SYSTEM. Just a matter of whether it's a USEFUL to you system, and whether you need to change it.

:D

Yes, routines involving my 8 y o daughter are , in general, pretty garbage-y right now--hahahaha you read my mind. I want to change everything this summer--or at least, sort out things that are working for us right now compared with those that aren't.

Rachel: you start by saying "What would a clean house look like to me?" Is it just vacuumed regularly, or is it always picked up so there are no trip hazards and the vacuuming doesn't matter? Is it scrubbed and shiny, or is that less important? What parts MATTER to you? What do YOU consider clean?

Perhaps look at a list of household tasks and see which you don't care get done at all, which you feel MUST be done, what's in between. What annoys you, what you are willing to ignore. Do you need your windows washed every week to feel clean? Or do you need the books not in piles on the floor?

And are you cleaning it because you want it cleaner, or because you feel socially guilty if you do not? And check your answer to that against the previous question. My own house I keep cluttered and busy. I had company coming over one day, I noticed I folded all the washcloths well, and washed the dishes, but my stacks of things stayed right where they were, just made more stable. I'll make it look less chaotic to other people, but not at the expense of my piles that I know where things are. I'm also notorious for scooping up a pile off  the floor, vacuuming under it, then dumping it back down. In my eyes the pile is fine but the carpet wants to be clean. A bad relationship I was in, he hated my piles, at his house he dumped everything into a drawer, so it was visually more neat, but he never vacuumed, swept, or scrubbed, just kept all surfaces cleared and considered that good.

How's that for a start?

:D

One more thought: Ask your daughter what SHE considers clean too. And which parts she finds useful to do. I guarantee it's easier to get her to do the parts she considers relevant than the parts she doesn't think need doing.

And you might, when you get things figured out, hold races, you do your part, she does hers, who gets done first?

Thanks! We cleaned out Miss G's room the other day, by her selection getting rid of about 20 stuffed animals. It had been months since I had seen her play with one, so I was convinced that phase of her childhood must be over. Well, once we got rid of the ones she didn't like, that were in fact junk and clutter to her, she has had her favorites out to play with every day--every day!--since the declutter last week. (Why does it surprise me that kids are 'just like people, really'? They are, though!)