Everything you do is a Workflow.

The Fractal Nature of Things

Nature exhibits order through fractals.  Small patterns replicated repeatedly in ever increasing scale.  From stem to tree.  From the single shore to large coastlines. Rivers to river deltas. Patterns reused over and over again. Nature is brutally efficient in her design DNA.

 Entropy – tendency to disorder

The universe, however, tends toward disorder or entropy.  Matter and energy dispersed and disordered when left to their own devices.   Order and disorder existing all around us.  The main battle is not between good and evil.  It is between order and disorder.

In this eternal battle of order vs disorder, our species has won the DNA lottery.   We are intelligent enough to create empires.  We have overcome the disorder.  But how?  And how does a fractal fit into all of this?

To understand we must look at how empires succeeded.  What were their characteristics that ensured their persistence through time.  Some common characteristics were:

1. A common unit of exchange or currency,

2. an increase in their military and, importantly an increase emphasis on systems and processes,

3. Attempt to enforce a common language or at a minimum, a common language for commerce.

4. Centralised governance.

5. Common systems of law and commerce.

6. Common religion and/or ideology.

The order of things

When you boil it down two themes emerge for an empire to thrive.

1. A clear and purposeful drive to order.  The rulers of great empires knew that order itself, created the exact petri dish of conditions to build something to last beyond lifetimes. 

2. The corollary to that, the requirement to systematize everything.  Systems and processes allowed for the efficient management and utilisation of resources to achieve greatness. 

You might be asking, okay that's all interesting but why should I care? Does any of this matter to me?

Workflows and Habits

Order and systems are just as important to individuals as to empires.  In fact, we are system following machines.  We just call our systems, habits.  Habits are human workflows.  The basic workflow components are:

1. Some event happens.

2. That triggers an action.

3. That sets of a series of repeatable steps.

4. That achieves a specific outcome.

But our workflows (habits) are not built systematically.  They are a series of behaviours that a formed for which we often don't know the root cause.  Often, we lack the awareness of them even as we are the middle of a running a habit routine.

 Lessons from an Empire

How can I build better habits?  Sorry, I can't help you change them.  I'm not a psychologist.

But like empires, it might be useful to think more deliberately about your work.  Incorporate order, systems, and processes into your everyday work life. Look to technology to create common workflows that automate processes.  

Give me a lever long enough....

When we lock down the processes, and it is certain and repeatable, we get the ultimate superpower.  Leverage.  What leverage gives us, is the ability to scale what we do.  The replication of the very small across different scales.  Fractals in action. 

We are now working as an individual empire, building the tools and skillset so that we too can create great things. We get to persist and play the infinite game.

Buying Time

When we do all this, we get the one finite commodity that is ever depleting mercilessly and is beyond our control.  Time.

Time to engage in the novel and the new.  To engage in the play of pattern recognition, pushing new boundaries to create new knowledge, products, and services. 

Or the time help someone else.  The time to spend with family and friends.  And if all of this is not what you crave or want, you could go sit under a tree to pass time.  You've earnt it. 

So next time you are doing something repeatedly, ask yourself the question. Is this useful?  If so, how can I automate it?  How do I get back some time?

We may not be empires or emperors, but we can learn from them.