The Power of Systems
I recently read The Power of Systems: How to Create a Life that Works by Steve Chandler and Trevor Timbeck.
I’ve long been a systems thinker…I have many past lives filled with workflow diagrams, spreadsheets, and process flows. I love systems.
And yet, thinking about the invisible systems all around me, the ones I’ve created and operate in every day of my entire life, has been eye opening.
A few examples from my own life:
The way I put my supplements on my coffee maker to make sure I take them every morning.
How I immediately move to the right lane on the way home from getting groceries when I want to remember to stop for gas, versus moving to the typical left lane knowing I’ll eventually turn south into my neighborhood.
The way I play certain music when I want to get “into the zone” with a task that I know I need to do but don’t feel inspired to do.
And after having recently participated in a weekend intensive with one of the authors, Steve Chandler, the lessons of the book are even more powerful and even more resonant.
Here are a few quotes from the book that continue to capture my attention:
We always have an existing system. It isn’t possible to be outside of a system or to have no system. But most of the time our systems are unexamined, and we often don’t call them systems—or even recognize them as such.
Like the legendary business consultant W. Edwards Deming pointed out, “Every system is perfectly suited to the result it is getting.” So if you want a different result, put in a different system.
“The system didn’t work, or you didn’t work the system?”
This is the power of systems: not knowing. In the systems paradigm, we don’t know what the “cause” is or what will work, so we can only test and experiment. But it is always obvious when it works and when it doesn’t.
So that’s the two-step process, I don’t know if that’s the master key—but it works for me. Step One: What system is currently occurring? Whether I’d been conscious of it or not. Make it conscious. Step Two: What system would work better?
Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.
With this inspiration, Dear Reader, I invite you to consider:
What systems are currently occurring in your world?
What systems would work better?
May 21, 2026
About the author:
Christina Von Stroh is a leadership coach who helps her clients become wildly successful by applying iterative software development practices to achieve their dreams. Want to work with Christina to help you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
Book your free strategy session.
