GettingBetter

GettingBetter is a systems-based approach to improving your life.

Principles

• Modularity is key.
• The smaller a task, the more likely you are to do it.
• It is better (and easier) to fill up your life with good things than cleanse it of bad things.

Behind the Name

The name is inspired by the Beatles song "Getting Better", in which Paul McCartney sings:

I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)

A little better all the time (It can't get no worse)

I have to admit it's getting better (Better)

It's getting better since you've been mine

Getting so much better all the time

By getting a little better all the time, we can build compound interest on incremental improvement. The goal of this framework is to empower anyone to build this compound interest, and reach their goals in the process.

Incremental improvement is powerful, and all great successes have been built incrementally, in one form or another. Don't be afraid of starting small — if you do, you will have already taken a step that most won't:

Asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him, the rabbi replied: "Nowadays there is now longer anybody who can bow low enough." ~ Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols

Getting Started

As of now, GettingBetter exists only as a blog post guide (available here), and a loose schema definition (available here). Ultimately, the goal is to develop it into a simple web-app that anyone can use to generate and keep track of their microsystems.

Architecture

Tenets

• Schedules are generally more trouble than they're worth
• Accountability is a distraction
• Goals are usually worthless

Miscellaneous Bullet Points

• Modularity is key.
• Schedules = Monoliths
• Systems = Microservices
• Systems are more agile and more broadly applicable
• You can have general, non-directed systems like "execute to-do's"
• The smaller a task, them more likely you are to do it. Micro-execute.
• It's better (and easier) to fill up your life with good things than cleanse it of bad things.
• Techniques are fine, but don't let them become a distraction. They're only tools. The systems you use should be your priority.
• Don't forget — the system of systems - the "meta-system" of life, is your main focus. Optimize for that.
• Satiate your drives in a positive-sum way
• Just run routines when you have time too. No scheduling or time management or progress tracking or accountability charts (that's usually a distraction).
• Do one thing at a time, and do it properly.
• Work harder, smarter, and faster
• Create your own ideals, and then obey/worship them. This way, you can determine who you want to be, and then get there.