It’s very easy to get caught in a constant posture of reaction, where you are constantly putting out fires instead of actually improving teams/systems/processes.  I was listening to a 22 Feb 2012 podcast from Michael Ellsberg (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-ellsberg-show/id673996932) recently, where he interviews Bryan Franklin; and I was struck by one of the comments Bryan made:  He talked about how great leaders don’t “exhale” (relax) when the specific issue is resolved; instead they relax when they have put a system in place that prevents that type of issue from happening again.  This idea of building systems is something many talk about; but it’s something that’s very difficult to prioritize above daily, tactical things.

This concept reminds me of so many related concepts such as:

• Work smarter, not harder
• Work on the business, not in it (E-Myth books by Michael Gerber)
• Ramit Sethi’s writing on automating systems, like automating personal finances

This yields value as you continue to build systems in your life.