Chapter 05
Systems Thinking
The Process of Getting Over Level 1
Most people stay stuck at the first level forever. They never get over the basic shit that’s stopping them from even beginning. You’re worried about advanced tactics while still stuck on ground zero, looping on the same victim mindset, the same blame patterns, the same cope. The first step is abandoning the victim mentality entirely. Remove all victim language. Stop viewing yourself as someone things happen to and start viewing yourself as someone who makes things happen.
“Instead of viewing rejection as an attack on ur personal identity - view it as an objective science experiment. Remove yourself (as a soul) from the equation - view only ur actions.”
Once you’re past that, you can actually start building. You can add bounce to your step. You can learn to experiment and run tests. But most just loop on ground zero for fucking ever. You gotta get over the first step because there’s a massive mountain to climb and you’re wasting time in the realm of crumbs.
Systems Are How You Actually Win
When you complain about not having something, what you’re actually complaining about is not having a system to get it. You don’t have a girlfriend because you don’t go out five times per week. You don’t have clients because you haven’t made offers. The answer is always right in front of your face, but you’re looking everywhere except at your actual process.
“You can ONLY make a SMALL, WORKING SYSTEM work on a larger level You CANNOT make a small, broken system SOMEHOW magically work by adding on MORE size or complexity”
Get your system to work for ONE PERSON. Then simply repeat it for more people. Your scale complexity should only include literally just repeating that same process. You’re not adding anything else or unnecessary complexity. You’re simply repeating the same process that worked once and attempting to remove complexity and add simplicity as you scale up.
The most valuable skill is skill acquisition itself. This is the process of: 1) Recognizing specific skill or skill-stack deficiencies, 2) Getting yourself to take action in a scientific and methodic way, 3) Continually straightening the arrow and optimizing its flight efficiency as you go.
Understanding Principles vs. Tactics
Once you understand principles, you run absolute circles around all the dweebs stuck at the depth of tactics. The principle forms the strategy which forms the tactic. So many don’t even know why they’re doing what they’re doing.
“Once you understand PRINCIPLES you run absolute circles around all the dweebs who are stuck @ depth of TACTICS. The principle forms the strategy which forms the tactic. So many don’t even know why they’re doing what they’re doing. Can’t relate.”
When you’re skilled at something, many of the “standard” rules don’t apply to you. Why? Because you understand the bigger picture. You can completely neglect a rule in one area and still come out on top due to compensating by pulling other levers within the system.
The Market Always Shows You What Works
The market is any feedback mechanism that is either allowing or denying the result you want. Always keep an objective eye on what the market is rewarding. The systems we need to get the results we want are always in our face, but we actively shut our eyes to them due to cope.
You have to become hyper-aware on if the ball in your life is moving forward. Don’t place your focus on your feelings or internal narratives. Simply ask yourself: Am I actually moving the ball forward in my life? This is cause and effect. Literal, real, tangible movement.
“You must become HYPER-AWARE on IF the ball in your life is moving forward. Don’t place your focus on your feelings. Don’t place your focus on your internal narratives. Don’t place your focus on potential world problems that you cannot control. Simply ask yourself: Am I ACTUALLY moving the ball forward in my life?”
Learning to Learn Quickly
There’s a specific process for learning something quicker than 99% of people. First, locate someone in the domain who is honest, massively successful, and doesn’t think like everyone else. Consume all their shit. Download how they think and why they make specific decisions.
Second, take massively imperfect action with reality contact. You need to develop your specific information quicker than anyone else through implementing and reflecting. Make your hour their day, your day their week, your week their month, your month their year.
Third, start making reason-based predictions. To understand something is to be able to predict how it will react to other things, and why. When you’re wrong, study the delta between what you predicted versus what actually happened, incorporate those newly discovered variables into your mental model, and guess again.
“Most people have zero concept of ‘the point of critical mass’ of starting anything new when u start something new, your work-to-result ratio is going to be astronomically asymmetrical on the WORK side”
Fourth, increase risk and push your own boundaries in a process-oriented way. A system can only work on a micro level before it works on a macro level. If a system does not work on a micro level, it cannot scale. Master the game on level 1, then force yourself to level 2.
The Zero to One Problem
Beginners have this strange “result obsession” that makes zero sense. The mental model of “you do things to get what you want” is completely absent. Everything you want isn’t magic. It is you doing things properly long enough until you get them.
“Beginners have this strange”result obsession” that makes zero sense. The mental model of “you do things to get what you want” is completely absent Everything you want isn’t magic. It is you doing things properly long enough until you get them.”
Imagine you had to chop down a tree. A beginner will hit the tree 10 times, see the axe isn’t making much damage, and give up. A vet will hit the tree 10 times, see it’s not making damage, and ask “why isn’t this working?” They problem solve, find out the axe is dull, and sharpen it. Then they keep going until the tree falls.
The beginner doesn’t realize there is a process to get the tree to fall down that needs to be discovered. Success is simply getting a micro system working (meaning get one chop to work) and then once that one thing will lead to what you want, you simply do infinity reps until you have it.
Momentum and Leverage
By far the most “pragmatic” route to “fixing” your psyche is to only worry about what is a direct and visible bottleneck from an emotional POV. Most people play on hard mode their whole life because they simply ignore all emotional resistance instead of studying it.
“Most people play on”hard mode” their whole life because they simply “ignore all emotional resistance” instead of studying it”
Once you build leverage, everything changes. Jumping financial levels isn’t about working more hours - it’s about finding and adding more leverage. Level 1: 1 unit of work yields 1 unit of output. Level 2: 1 unit of work yields 10 units of output. Level 3: 1 unit of work yields 100 units of output. Magnify yourself.
Normies have zero awareness or concept of momentum. The reason for this is because it is purely a “see it with your own eyes” phenomena. It has to be felt, discerned towards, found, then studied. When you generate a little momentum, you do nothing except make it bigger and bigger and ride it up and out of whatever situation you find yourself in.
“Normies have zero mental model or respect for momentum. And this massive blindspot is why they view life as”being really hard””
Designing Your Own System
Most people get lost because they turn inward when they should be turning outward. If journaling and meditating about it 500 times has yielded you nothing, you do not have the answer. Your mental models and knowledge about the world is failing you.
“People stay”lost” for exponentially LONGER amounts of time than they should. I see this ALL of the time Someone doesn’t know what their next step is So what do they do? They turn INWARD.”
Being lost is never time wasted because it can be no other way. But choosing to stay lost is wasting time. When you can’t see a lane forward, you have to search for one more aggressively than you’ve ever searched before. You need new data sets, new information, new ways to do things, new options and opportunities.
The limitations you’re feeling aren’t the world’s limitations - they are your limitations. Have to expand them. Scratch 400 different itches and see what works. This will be much more beneficial than sitting in your room attempting to magically find a new path from God out of nothing.
Key Principles
Systems before outcomes. You can control your inputs but not when results arrive. Focus on building repeatable processes, not praying for perfect timing.
Scale what works small. Get one person a result, then repeat that exact process. Don’t add complexity - add repetition of what already functions.
Principles over tactics. Understanding why something works lets you break rules strategically. Tactics are fragile; principles adapt.
Learn through action, not research. Information without implementation is procrastination. The real lessons hide in doing the thing badly until you do it well.
Momentum compounds non-linearly. Nothing happens for months, then everything clicks at once. Most quit right before the ratio flips in their favor.
Study your actual behavior, not your intentions. Your actions reveal your real priorities. Design systems around who you actually are, not who you think you should be.
The market always gives feedback. If you’re not getting results, your system is broken or you haven’t run it long enough. Reality doesn’t lie.