The USS Indianapolis: falling to the level of our systems.

Prime Future 175: the newsletter for innovators in livestock, meat, and dairy

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there."

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great read with two big ideas I found particularly useful.

One is that the way to change your habits is first to change your identity. Setting a goal to start publishing 3 articles per year with a unique POV or lifting weights 4 times per week is excellent, but the way to make those new habits stick is by first telling yourself, "I am someone who learns out loud" or "I am someone who lifts weights."

Not hokey, legitimate game-changer.

The second, and our topic today, is from the quote above. This idea that we fall to the level of our systems. That our systems are a collection of our habits. That those systems determine outcomes.

So normally when I think about this idea of falling to the level of the collection of habits, I think about it at an individual level. But it 100% applies to organizations.

We just usually say "process" in an organization instead of "habit". Same same.

Today we explore the implications of this idea for the ag world, by starting with the USS Indianapolis....

On a 2 day trip last week I finished the book In Harm's Way because I could not put it down. Fact is crazier than fiction and the facts of this story are bananas: