The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
Mastering the Art of Systems for Life and Business Success
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Ever feel like you're just one step away from unlocking peak efficiency in your life and business?
Let me, Aaron Degler, guide you through the transformative world of systems, sharing their importance and how to refine them for continuous success. Drawing from my ventures, like the seamless onboarding system of FitLife 360 and the regularity of the Fit by Friday email, I reveal how these tailored steps lead to efficiency and achievement. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to construct a more productive and purpose-driven future, whether in the boardroom or the living room.
Join the journey as we explore the necessity to evolve and optimize our systems because what serves us today may not fit tomorrow's bill. Through personal anecdotes and the wisdom gleaned from creating and maintaining my routines, I'll show you how to evaluate and adjust your current strategies to align with your changing goals. Whether you're recalibrating your fitness regimen or fine-tuning your business processes, this conversation is geared towards helping you identify that crucial first step and implement a series of actions that march you closer to your desired outcomes.
Tune in to the MindBody Project and harness the power of systems to elevate your life's blueprint.
Creating Successful Business Systems
Speaker 1Welcome to the Mind Body Project podcast . After over a decade in the health and wellness industry , erin realized that our bodies change only short-term , unless our mindset changes for long-term success .
Speaker 1Both our mind and body are forever linked . We are continually building up new ideas and tearing down old ones in our construction zone . We call our mind . After this podcast is over , make sure you give it a like and a share , and please subscribe and review this podcast . I would now like to introduce you to your host , the man connecting your mind and body to create a limitless life Erin Zegler .
Speaker 2Welcome back to the Mind Body Project . Thanks for taking the time to join me today . A number of years ago , my wife Kim , she was part of this company and each year we'd go to two different conventions and we'd hear different leaders speak within the company and they all talked about systems . And they talked about the systems that they had that were making their different areas work , and just went on and on about the systems . But what they never talked about was what were the systems ? They'd say you know , I have these systems in place and this would work and that would work . I think that my systems are great and Kim and I would always leave those go , but they never told us what the system was . They just didn't tell us . So we'd leave . Like you know , we'd want to try to build business like they were , like the leaders were , and it's okay , we need systems . But what systems ? We don't know what systems , and so we left probably more confused than when we went and learning . You know they had systems . Well , that's great . What's your system ? They never said what the system is . And so you know , if you're trying to build a business and somebody says , oh , I built my business using systems and I just had these great systems and you go , well , great , what were those systems ? And just never find out what those systems are , and I felt always left out , always . You know there must be some secret to these , to this system . There must be some secret that they don't want to share , that the system is so great that they don't want to share it because they think you know you might have a better business or whatever it may be . And so , as I thought about , I thought , well , what's the system ? And after thinking about it and doing some things in my own business , through my online business , through my gym business , through my personal training business , I realized that the systems were just a series of steps and these different leaders created these systems that they kept talking about . But really is what they're talking about ? Is they created a series of steps that worked for them and they had to create the system that worked for them . They never said create the system that works for you . They just kept saying systems , systems . I have these great systems and finally realized that it's just a series of steps that we have to follow .
Speaker 2And you guys , I realize and implemented systems within my business , systems within my online business , and so you know . Again , you might be asking well , what kind of systems ? So , for instance , I have a program called FitLife360 . So that can be signed up on through my website . Within FitLife360 , I have different programs . I have at home workout programs , gym workout programs , I have master classes , I have mindful moments , different videos , I have cardio that can be done outdoors , indoors , and so I have those different programs within the FitLife360 . So a system , a steps , is that when you go to my website , you sign up for FitLife360 , you get a free trial for the first month , because we all love to try out things for free first and see if you like it . But what happens is when my potential customer signs up for FitLife360 , I have it automated so that once they sign up , all those programs automatically load into their app . They download the app and they're there . That's a system , that's a series of steps , that when the customer signs in , signs up , they get an email on how to set up the app , they get a questionnaire , then , once they get signed into the app , all those programs are already there , instantly ready for them to use , and that's a system .
Speaker 2Each week I send out a weekly email every Monday called Fit by Friday . Fit by Friday is simply a share , a short story , a short personal story that happened with me over the last week or couple weeks , and have a lesson from that . What was gained from that ? What can it be applied , through that story that I share that personal story , what can be applied to our daily lives ? What can be applied that we can take from that story and make it applicable ? Things that I've learned from that story .
Speaker 2And so I write that email . I have MailChimp that I upload that to . I make because it also not only when I do that , it also goes out . I have all my contacts already in my email list . You know I can set a time for it to go out . Goes out the same time every Monday morning , and so I can upload it and I send it out . It goes out at six o'clock every Monday morning . You can go to my website and you can sign up for that weekly email . But also it also goes right to my website , which is my blog , so it goes there also . So that's a system . So I do it and with just a few clicks of some buttons I follow a series of steps . It goes to all my email list contacts and it goes up to my website and it's now a blog that anybody can go anytime and search all my past blogs , all my past emails that I have turned into a blog , that are on my website under blog . Same thing with my , with this podcast , with the MindBody project it is every every other Tuesday the MindBody project and episode comes out Again .
Speaker 2It's a series of steps I record this episode , I do some editing , I make some graphics for it , I type up a description and then I upload it to my , to my , where it goes out to all the different platforms , and I set a schedule time for it to go out . So when it goes out on Tuesday mornings at 5am or 4am , I think , not only does it go out in podcast land , wherever you get your podcast , but also uploads my website as a blog post and it also uploads to YouTube , comes out the same time . So that is a system that I can . You know , I don't have to be up at four o'clock in the morning loading the podcast to go out . I don't have to be on YouTube at the same time to upload the video content . I don't have to be on my , on my website , to upload the description of the podcast into a blog post . So that is a system .
Speaker 2It's a series of steps that we use to make things easier , to make things a little more successful , and we use those systems and you know that's great . But the big question is how do we create the systems ? You know , as I shared with you just a minute ago about the email system , about the podcast system , how I do all that to make it work and make it flow , and so I have had some people say you must work all the time . No , I have some good systems that when I put things out , it just kind of looks that way , but I've really probably scheduled them , I've set them up ahead of time , I set a block of time for them to go out . So it kind of looks that way , but it's really not . I just kind of batch it all together and do it so .
Creating Effective Systems for Success
Speaker 2But how do we create those systems ? And really we create a series of steps that work for you . So for me , I'm sure you know I'm in a podcast group on Facebook and there's different hosts that produce podcasts that do a lot of different ways . This is just for me , the way I produce mine . That's just a series of steps . That works really well for me . Same thing for my weekly email . It's just a series of steps that works really well for me , you know , and really , when we create systems , aren't we looking for a outcome , result ? You know , as we , as those leaders spoke at Kim's company , they spoke about systems because all of us in the audience were wanting their outcome . We're wanting they were talking about , you know , maybe , whatever their earnings were , whatever their position the company was , those listening wanted their outcome . So we're looking for ears perked for their system . What's the secret system that's getting them to where they're at ? And really all it was was a series of steps that worked for them , worked for their business , that they were able to repeat over and over and over because it produced the results that they wanted . A system is it's something you create that you can use over and over and over to produce the results you want . And if it's not producing the results you want , then we have to make a tweak to the system .
Speaker 2You know , I used to work for Peterbilt and I used to work in the manufacturing . I used to work on trucks that go down the assembly line and you know , at times , that assembly line if you look at it , I think we , you know , in a shift in eight , nine , eight hours , we'd , you know , put out , you know , 50 , 55 trucks in the department . I was at like in the frame department , so it doesn't sound like a lot . And if you look at that line , that line was constantly moving . It didn't look like it was moving very fast , but when you got to working on that line it seemed like it was zooming and like it didn't wait for you and so if you messed up , you had to hit the stop button and the stop button shut the whole line down while you got caught up , while you fixed whatever you needed to . And sometimes that's what we have to do . Now , that wasn't always . You know that's kind of frowned upon because you're slowing other people down .
Speaker 2But when you're talking about your own systems , if it's not , you know if you need to stop it because it's not getting the results you want . If you know if that line is going to buy too fast and I'm missing parts that I'm supposed to be putting on , that's not , you know they need to get to the next station and have the parts that I was supposed to put on . So if that's not working , then I need to change my system . I need to change something I was doing on that , on that manufacturing line , to be able to better keep up , to better produce the results that were required of me , that I wanted , which was to get my parts on and go on to the next person . So if our system , that we've created , our series of steps that's really all a system is is a series of steps , if it's not working , then we need to review the system , review the steps and decide what is it we need to tweak or change to start producing the results we want , whether that's in business . What's our system in for advertising , for marketing ? What's our system for employee retention ? What's our system for recruiting new employees ? What's our system for bringing new business , increasing revenue ? What's our system , what's our system for getting healthier ? It's just a series of steps . It's . You know , I go to the gym , I work out , I eat , right . Maybe there's something we need to tweak in that system . We might even call it a routine sometimes when it comes to exercise , but we have those systems in place , just those series of steps .
Speaker 2I heard the other day a great quote . I don't remember who said it , but it said you will never rise to your goals . You will always fall to your systems . So what that was saying is that we can set big goals , but if we don't constantly upgrade our systems and improve our systems , there's goals that we can't get to because our systems won't allow us to .
Speaker 2I may want to be let's say I want to be the next Mr Olympia , but if my system of exercising and eating is non-existent , I don't exercise . I eat good every now and then . I might hit the gym every now and then . Am I ever going to be to Mr Olympia ? No , because my system in place will never allow for that . Because I'm not exercising right , I'm not eating right , I'm probably not sleeping right , I'm probably not getting in the right cardio , all those things . It's just not going to happen . I'm going to fall back to my system . That same period of time when I was working at Peterbilt , I worked nights , worked second shift , and I would come home and I literally have like a 20 ounce Dr Pepper hot dog with some block cheese . I mean that was my favorite . So if I'm living that lifestyle , am I ever going to make Mr Olympia ? No , that system is horrible if that's the goal I want to achieve . So we will fall to our systems . We won't rise to our goal .
Speaker 2Now , as our systems , as we improve our systems , we can get closer and closer to that goal . Because we've looked at our system goes yeah , this system is good . But if I want to get the next level , get up to the next goal , what do I have to tweak about this system ? Maybe it's I have to increase my cardio . Maybe I have to start lifting a little bit more . Maybe I have to do some more days at the gym . Maybe I have to really dial in my food . Maybe , if I want to keep progressing , keep moving forward in my company , I need to upgrade my systems . I need the steps , the processes I follow . I need to start being on time . I need to start making every meeting , just not the ones that aren't optional . I need to start doing those things , staying a little bit extra in upgrading my systems to get the goals that I want and whatever area that is .
Evaluating and Optimizing Personal Systems
Speaker 2And when we talk about our systems , I think there's some questions that we need to ask ourselves as we're looking at our system , because I think we all have systems . It's just maybe systems that we didn't realize we had , that we need to upgrade that , we need to change . Maybe there's some systems that need to be done away with completely as computers get better , aren't there ? Some old ? I think it was DOS , it was an operating system . I don't even think they use that anymore because that system worked great at the time for computers . But as technology changed , that system of operating , that operating system was no longer necessary . So as technology , as we improve , as we get smarter , as we learn more , sometimes our operating system is no longer needed there . But because we've upgraded it , we've gotten better and better at it . And the only way we do that is by asking ourselves questions about our system on a consistent basis , because a system that we had maybe when we were 20 , is not necessarily a system that's going to work for us at 50 . Maybe it needs to be tweaked , maybe it needs to be altered , maybe it's like the DOS system and then we need to get rid of it completely .
Speaker 2And one of the questions is what do I want my outcome to be ? We had our system and it was reaching a goal , and so many times , especially in the gym , I have members come in , clients come in . They tell me about how they used to work out when they were in high school or college . That'd be great if you're only a year or two out of college or high school . But we're talking 30 , 40 years later . You're going to work out a little different than you did then . But sometimes what they come into the gym trying to do is they remember all the stuff they did then and they try to replicate that .
Speaker 2Well , you don't have the same body that you did at 18 , at 22 . You have a 40 , 50 year old body , 60 year old body . There's some things that need to be different . So what outcome do you want ? And that's going to change through . You know , at 20 , 25 , 30 , you might have a different fitness outcome that you want . Then you might . At 60 , 60 , it might be . I just want to be able to get around on a daily basis and feel good . At 20 , 25 , 30 , you might want to have this ripped beach body , ready body all the time . So that's two different things .
Speaker 2But we're trying to use the same system . So we have to ask ourselves what's the outcome I want to be ? And I need to adjust my systems according to the outcome , as that outcome changes , because it will change over time . Then , once you realize what that you ask yourself what is the outcome ? I want you answer that .
Speaker 2The next question is what is the first step I need to take towards that outcome ? And it's all about the steps and the system . You're creating those steps . That's all . The system is is a series of steps . I think we get mind blown when we hear the word system , but it's just a really a series of steps . So what's that first step ? You know ? And when we take that first step and that's why the first step is so important so many times people come into the gym and they tell me that the hardest thing to do was come into the front door . It was to come through the door . And that's the first step . Because oftentimes , when we answer that question , what's the first step I need to take ? We get to that first step and you know what . We realize what the next step is . But that first step is the hardest one to decide . What step is it we need to take ? And when we take that first one , oftentimes the second one comes to us . We take the second and the third and fourth and so on . So then , once we take that first step , we're able to start to realize what are the following steps we need to take towards our desired outcome . And then , once we realize those steps , we know those steps are what we need to take . The next question we ask is how do I implement those ? How do I implement those steps ? What does that look like ? It's great to have steps . It's great to have a plan . Basically , right now you know you're in the planning stage what all my outcome to be . I write it down . What's the first step ? I write it down . What's the following steps ? After I hit that first step , you write them down .
Speaker 2Now comes the important part of your system is how I implement those steps . That becomes the action part of your system , because the system doesn't work without action . Going back to my FitLife 360 example , the customer goes on my website . They take an action , they say I want to be part of FitLife 360 . So they put in information , they get a full month free trial and then the next action that's taken is they're sending an email on how to download the app , a questionnaire on health and wellness , and then they get all the programs within the app . So see , there's actions taken . How will I implement these steps ? So I decided what steps do I want to take . What do I want the customer , my customer that goes on my website to get , now how I implement those A few clicks . And my new customer , my new client now has all of that at their fingertips . Now it goes up to them to follow the system . But to follow the system they have to take action .
Speaker 2And then , after we implement those steps , we realize how well I implement those and we implement them . We take the action and then we look at it and say did that , did those implemented steps work well in delivery ? In other words , there was some things when I first started offering FitLife 360 with mental fitness and physical fitness those products within the app . When I started offering that , there are some things I need to tweak because what I implemented wasn't really being delivered in the right way , so I had to change some things . My desired outcome wasn't quite being met that I wanted the customer experience to have . The experience my client was getting wasn't quite what I wanted , so I had to make some tweaks to that . So when they made a couple clicks , they were getting what I wanted to send them . They were getting the experience that I wanted them to experience . So we have to review that and did they work during delivery and was the system was it successful ? So we have to test it .
Speaker 2I had when I first started FitLife 360 , I had some clients go test it . How was the sign up process ? Was it easy ? Was it easy to do delivery ? Well , how was the answering the questionnaire , all these things ? How easy of use is the app and navigating around it To see is my system successful ?
Speaker 2Is it being successful in terms of the Mind Body Project , the podcast , is it being successful and is it being delivered to my potential listeners or viewers ? And not only , is that system working to that outcome . Really , my system has a couple different outcomes that it's our . Am I able to do it efficiently ? Am I able to produce a podcast that is audio and video without spending hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of time ? Am I able to condense the time so my systems speed things along , that I don't have to be at every step of the process to click at the right time .
Speaker 2I can automate it . When we automate our system , sometimes it works , and there's times when we have an automated system and it doesn't work . There's in the FitLife 360 , I had some things automated but I was missing some things . I had to go back and tweak the automation , but we review it and say we have to test the system . Is it being successful ? Is it driving us towards our outcome ?
Speaker 2So , remember , we hear people talk about implementing systems all the time and remember , it's just a series of steps , a series of steps that we ask our questions what I want my outcome to be , what is the first step I need to take ? And then all the following steps will come after that first step . How do I implement those steps ? Did the implementation of those steps work during delivery ? And then it's reviewing was my system ? Is system testing ? Was it successful ? Did it get the outcome I wanted ? Is what we're looking for ?
Speaker 2So , remember , systems don't have to be complicated and systems , yes , there are some systems you can follow that different people can use and successful , maybe in a system , in learning something new or starting a new business or being in business or different systems that you can follow and you can copy . But that may be a system that works for them . And so when you get that system , when you get to that point that says , did it test successfully ? It really didn't For me . There's a couple of things I'm missing I'd like to tweak a little bit . So then you tweak that , you tweak those steps to make it your system , to make it the one that works best for you , because ultimately , once you get that system , it becomes your own . So the system , we can have a generic outline per se , but then we can personalize it by changing this thing or that thing , whatever it is , to create your system that makes it work for you and for your outcome . So just remember , systems are just a series of steps that you can create and that you can follow to get to the desired outcome .
Speaker 2Hope this helped clarify a little bit about systems , because we hear about it all the time and doesn't leave you wondering what systems was like . I was Kim and I were sitting in the convention like what are these great systems ? And so if you need help with systems , reach out to me . You can go to my website , errandeaglercom . There's a lot of ways you can connect with me through my daily text that I send out , my weekly Fit by Friday . Email comes out on Monday . My podcast , different programs , my FitLife 360 , one-on-one coaching , whether it's personal training , whether it's our mental fitness , whatever it is . There's a lot of options there that we can connect . I'd love to help and serve you . So just reach out Again . You can go to errandeaglercom for all those different programs , all those different things that we can connect in those ways . So thank you so much for joining me today . As I tell my wife Kim every night before I go to bed , it's bombin' the night Double A out .
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to today's podcast . If you would like to connect with Aaron , you can do so by going to errandeaglercom or find him on social media as errandeagler on Instagram , facebook and YouTube . Once again , we greatly appreciate you tuning in . If you've enjoyed the show , please feel free to rate , subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts . We greatly appreciate that effort and we'll catch you in the next episode of the Mind Body Project podcast .