This was originally a voicenote that I have since cleaned up into a note
Three different tools of systems thinking
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The first is about how you can connect ideas. In universities, there are lots of dense topics, but they can be distilled down into singular ideas, and those ideas can connect. In systems thinking, you want to be able to connect those ideas.
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The second tool is inflow and outflow. This means you shouldn’t only think about the inflow, but also the outflow. For example, you consume a lot of content, and then what? The biggest question to remember is, and then what? What are you going to do with all that knowledge, and what kind of outputs will you produce? In a networking or relationship setting, you have all these friends and connections at your side, and then what? How are you going to nurture these connections? Do you have the bandwidth to support all of those connections? This is particularly important in college and life in general, especially in the realm of creation. You have your inputs, but also need to think about your outputs.
- The third tool is to not only think about what happens when you do an action, but also what happens when you don’t do an action. For example, if I don’t do my homework and procrastinate, that’s inaction, and it makes me stressed. I don’t want that. It’s invisible, but it adds up. This realization is key for me because it takes a lot of energy to stress. It’s important as a systems thinker to think about what happens when you don’t do something, not just when you do something. Society often makes us measure our actions, but we also need to think about the consequences of inaction.