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Systems

“Nehemiah, chapter 3, verses 3, 6, 13, 14, and 15 say virtually the same things: “They rebuilt the gate, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.”

Five different verses, same statement. Why would Nehemiah be so redundant unless he was making a point?

His point: we had a system.

There is a map of the wall identifying each gate in the appendix. Each gate was named intentionally (and intuitively) and served a purpose for the community in the time it was designed. Clearly, Nehemiah felt that the purposes of the gates were still relevant to his community—or at least valuable for their culture and tradition. So he paid close attention to rebuilding each gate from the start. And he used a strategic, systemized approach.

Don’t let your eyes glaze over. This matters for you.

No great project is accomplished without systems. Here’s my simple definition of a system: “a pattern of behavior that results in a desired outcome.”

Dan and Chip Heath call it “scripting change”—where you clearly define the outcomes you want and then the microsteps that need to be engaged and repeated to accomplish the desired outcome.

Most well-meaning dreamers don’t put legs to their visions and never end up accomplishing their dream projects. And most who do don’t see them through. The reason? It’s not willpower. It’s not a matter of intelligence. And it’s not about opportunity.

The reason: they didn’t have strong enough convictions to find and follow a system.

Nehemiah created a system for the rebuilding of each gate: “They laid the beams, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.”

If you were assigned to a gate, this is what you did. You didn’t do more things. And you didn’t do fewer things. You did these things until they were finished. Then, with the gates reconstructed, serving as banners of God’s blessing and construction momentum, the people moved on to other areas of the wall with a little more confidence.

Progress leads to more progress.

Defining a process leads to more confidence that progress is actually possible.

I don’t know how to rebuild a massive wall that no one else has figured out how to build. But I can probably flail around for a while until I sort out how to lay beams, set up doors, and install bolts and bars.

Script the change you want to see.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Progress leads to more progress.

We stack one stone on top of another. And we create systems to make the work more manageable. Before we know it, we’ve made enough progress to justify enthusiasm and confidence that success is possible.