Systems... Systems everywhere!

Anyone, who has been reading my blog so far know I dislike every single system: in an earlier entry of mine I ripped on the Prussian education system and blamed it for many wrong deeds, along with literally all marketing systems. And now comes the plot twist: believe it or not, I am not against of systems in general - on paper.

The good thing about systems that they help you getting yourself organized. When you raise your child, you need to build up a daily rhythm (also a system) for them, or they will create their own, and there's no chance you'll be happy with that. Systems surround us, they are part of our every day life. Without them our world would become chaotic.

Now, after establishing the advantage of a system, let's see how can it go absolutely wrong. Any system can become a nightmare when instead of using the system, you abuse the system, let the system use you, or even abuse you - also, you shouldn't abuse the system. Because what is a system anyway? A system is a compilation of do's and don'ts that helps keep everything in order. There you go, a simple definition. Every religion is basically a system aiming for a pretty good life (see the Ten Commandments). Even a recipe in a cook book is a system: for example if you are baking an apple pie, but you put minced meat in it instead of apples, but you keep the rest of the prescribed ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, etc.), your apple pie will be a mess.
Also, theoretically and in the hypothetical sense, without people involved, every system works perfectly. Democracy, bureaucracy, communism - all of these systems work perfectly on paper. But when people starting to abuse the system, it becomes a nightmare for many. There is this old joke about what's the difference between the existing communism and working communism? The existing communism doesn't work, while the working communism doesn't exist. And the problem is not in the structure or in the content of the system, but in our attitude towards the system.

You cannot let a system rule your life, because any system is just a tool in your hand. If the system doesn't really work out for you, you shouldn't choose another system. You should rather change your attitude and find a way to use the system for your own benefit. Bending the rules without breaking them - that's definitely an art.

That's what pioneers do: they are looking for ways to use the system for their own benefit. And after they find it, the system will advance by their success to another level, where the ones whom are too afraid to make change will have a better life. You cannot make change by bringing in an entire new system, you have to make the current one advance to a higher level, build up something on the old and keeping the traditions that still make sense.

So before you'd shout: I want to be a pioneer! Keep in mind, not to give another system to others, but advance in the current one. Is it difficult? Yes, it is. Does it worth the effort? Hell, yes, it does!