System Smart - Your Third Intelligence

The smart that gives you wings

Aug 30, 2024

As we grow up and mature, we often hear about two types of intelligence—”book smart” and “street smart”. Book smart refers to the knowledge and analytical skills we acquire in school or work environments that require strong cognitive abilities. Evidence of being book smart includes good grades, high test scores, and excelling in analytical work. (And being Asian—okay, just kidding! But I was indeed questioned about my heritage when I struggled with various tests and classes in college.)

Street smart, on the other hand, means being savvy with people. It’s about being attuned to others’ feelings and thoughts, and knowing how to influence them. Evidence of someone being street smart includes having lots of friends, a large professional network, and leadership roles later in their career. (And not being Asian—also kidding, kind of.)

Of course, there are other types of “smart” as well. You might argue that someone with strong hand-eye coordination is “athlete smart,” or that someone with a natural talent for music and painting is “art smart.” In the end, any type of mental gift you’re born with can be called “xxxx smart.”

The Third Smart

But today, I want to introduce a type of “smart” that is:

Extremely additive in your pursuit of success and excellence
Effective in magnifying your strengths (or your other “smarts”) and circumventing your weaknesses
Not requiring any natural ability and is obtainable with relative ease

This type of smart is called “system smart.” It refers to your ability to learn and use systems, tools, habits, and rituals to help you be the best version of yourself.

I’ll give you an example using myself:

Here’s my confession: I might be the most undisciplined and distracted person I know. Of course, since I spend more time with myself than with anyone else, this statement itself is the definition of anecdotal evidence. But accuracy aside, I am really all over the place.

Modern technology has enabled us to be productive but also extremely prone to distractions. I can get lost browsing the internet and watching YouTube on my phone for hours. An unplanned, and definitely unwanted, deep dive into the history of Armenia, followed by watching fifteen political speeches, and my day is wasted.

Your Flaws ≠ Your Outcomes

But, I also have something to brag about: I can become highly productive and get things done when I need to, with relative ease. I have built a bunch of systems in my life to help me focus at a moment’s notice. For example, to gain focus and creativity for writing, I go through a daily routine:

Leave my phone at home.
Load up two inspiring podcast episodes and one audiobook on my iPod.
Drive to a remote beach 45 minutes away from my house.
Listen to the podcasts and audiobook during my drive for inspiration and mental cleansing.
Park my car in front of the ocean and write for 3 hours, distraction-free.
Return home with pages of good work.

This daily routine of a new environment, mental preparation, and removal of distractions can transform me. I go from being hopelessly distracted and entirely unproductive to being highly focused and creative. It’s my version of Clark Kent going into a phone booth and coming out as Superman.

Now, this is not the only system I have. Many of you know me through Rejection Therapy, or my daily goal spreadsheets. But you might not know that these are just some of the systems I use to manage my life.

I also have systems to:

Be a good parent despite my natural impatience with kids
Prevent arguments with my wife from turning into damaging fights despite our frequent disagreements
Be a better saver and investor without in-depth financial knowledge
Network effectively despite being an introvert
Succeed as a professional speaker despite speaking with an accent
Travel the world despite being overly parochial for the majority of my life

Systems Are Multipliers

It would sound great to say I have no natural talent at all and that all I’ve accomplished is based on being system smart. But that would be a lie. I was indeed born with some useful traits.

For example, my ability to have wacky thoughts gives me a leg up in using humor in public speaking, my acumen for connecting the dots of past events helps me tell good stories, and my God-given proficiency in churning eggs fast has made me an awesome cook of fried rice.

That said, without the right systems, my debilitating weaknesses and flaws would overwhelm my talents and drag me down to a life of mediocrity, if not total failure. My story would have turned out much differently. It’s these systems that enable me to be who I am today.

I believe we all have talents and flaws. But with the right systems, you can elevate your talents and suppress your flaws. They are multipliers.

In fact, some of the most successful entrepreneurs and artists use systems to maximize their potential. For example, legendary writer Jim Collins used a system to force himself to write prolifically. And Novak Djokovic used a training system to become one of the most flexible tennis players ever, almost like Mister Fantastic with a racket.

People like these have an ungodly amount of natural abilities. But their systems gave them wings. In the future, I will introduce some of the systems I have learned, along with those used by the entrepreneurs and artists I admire.

Now, the concept of using systems is not new. Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have practiced yoga, stoicism, journaling, daily exercise, auto-suggestion, hypnosis, New Year’s resolutions—you name it! In fact, the entire $30B self-help industry is filled with tools designed to help you succeed.

What System Smart Requires

But here’s the difference between having systems and being “system smart.” Systems are just tools in a toolbox. But being system smart is the craft and intelligence of knowing how to use the right system that fits the right person (you), for the right goals, at the right time.

It requires:

An experimental mentality to constantly try out and iterate on new things
A growth mindset that says you are not bound by the fixed traits you are born with but by your opportunities to learn and change over time
An optimism that you CAN indeed achieve your goals, and that your ambition is never too ambitious

None of my personal systems were ordered off Amazon with Prime shipping. I spent my life battling personal flaws to 1. Give myself a fighting chance to find opportunities in life 2. Elevate my output once I find those opportunities. I developed these systems by learning, borrowing, and “stealing” from others. Then, I customized them to fit my unique situation. That’s how I became system smart.

Now in the comments, share with me any of these three:

1. Are you system smart?

2. Do you use any tools or routines to enable your success?

3.Do you know any other successful figures who are system smart?