Build the roof before it rains.
There’s a story behind that to upgrade your mental game. This message is dedicated to Dr. Lee Warren.
This is upgrade number 1240 and the last installment in our five-day mini-seminar this week on stress and structure.
You think structure is for the good days, but upgraded thinking knows structure is what carries you on the worst ones.
This story is titled Systematizing.
Dr. Lee Warren is a neurosurgeon. He’s served as a combat surgeon in Iraq. By his own admission, if he doesn’t keep things organized, he’s capable of what he calls “stunning” forgetfulness. He’s shown up to surgery without his MRI scans. He’s driven to work without his wallet.
So years ago he built systems. His keys, wallet, glasses, and watch go in the same spot every night, right above his sock drawer. Bills get calendar reminders. Same place. Same order. Every day. It sounds small. It’s seems silly a neurosurgeon requires such basic organization. Then life tested it.
Lee and his wife lost their son, Mitch. And in the months that followed, he says, all they could do was breathe in and breathe out. But the systems kept working. His hand kept hanging the keys in the same spot without his having to think about it. He didn’t have to wonder where anything was. And one day, in the middle of all that grief, his phone reminded him to pay the mortgage. He called it a lifesaver. Lee says it simply: “Systems keep you sane.”
This is the last message in our mini-seminar on stress and structure. We’ve talked about the lever, the morning bookend, the evening bookend, and the chair. Here’s why all of it matters. You don’t build structure because life is calm. You build it because life won’t stay calm. When the hard day comes, and it will, you won’t have the energy to make good decisions. Grief, a diagnosis, a layoff, a phone call in the middle of the night. Your mind will be full. The structure you built on an ordinary Tuesday is what will hold you up.
That’s what the lever was for. That’s what the bookends were for. Not just to make good days better. To make the bad days survivable. And Lee says something else that stings a little: “Not having a system is a system.” It’s just a bad one. So build it now. While you’re strong. Put the keys in the same place. Protect your first hour and your last hour. Set the reminder. Write the checklist. It will feel like nothing. Until it’s everything.
The better story to tell yourself is, “I build structure now so it can carry me later.”
Tell me a story of a habit that carried you through a hard season to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and ask them, “What’s one thing that keeps you steady when life gets hard?” You can get a free copy of my book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message and hundreds of others are always available at http://www.fromchad.com. Please like, comment, subscribe, or follow. Your engagement helps the algorithm and makes it easier for others to find these messages.
