Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
TLDR: Discover how your systems—not your vision—determine your success level. Christian men who want to transform their leadership, relationships, and spiritual walk need robust systems that align with God’s purpose. Learn how to identify system gaps and implement improvements that create lasting change in your family, business, and personal life.
What?
I had a great topic planned for today but forgot it because I my system didn’t handle how to capture it. This led me directly to the very principle I found to share: “Some people think we rise to the level of our visions, but actually we fall to the level of our systems.” As someone who has worked with systems professionally—analyzing and building software systems—I still face these challenges. I have a tendency toward organization and process that serves me well professionally but can be problematic at home, relationally, and emotionally. Recently on a podcast, I noticed my listening system improving—I’m less focused on formulating my next response and more present with the speaker.
Why?
I’m sharing this because many successful Christian men are vision-oriented but system-deficient. We have grand aspirations for our marriages, families, businesses, and spiritual lives, but our daily and periodic systems don’t support these visions. When we experience disconnects between our success and fulfillment—when we’re doing “all the right things” but still feel empty—it’s often because our systems aren’t aligned with our deepest values. The higher we bring our systems, the closer to our vision we can operate.
Lesson
Your systems determine your success ceiling and your failure floor. While visions inspire us, systems sustain us. The systems in your marriage, parenting, business leadership, and spiritual disciplines create the framework within which transformation happens. Systems aren’t permanent—they’re “growing, evolving, and getting better every day.” My three core beliefs guide my system development: 1) I get better every day, 2) We are better together, and 3) I believe in a God who knows “better” way better than I ever will.
Apply
Take a step back and examine where you’re experiencing gaps or misses in your life. Identify the underlying system that failed and consider how to improve it. Write down a specific system that didn’t work as intended or needs improvement because you noticed a performance gap. Share your experience—what happened, which system failed, and how you fixed it—as this can benefit others facing similar challenges. Remember that elevating your systems brings your performance closer to your vision, allowing you to “fall” to a higher level than before.
You be blessed.
Systems Determine Your Success: We Fall to the Level of Our Systems
