YOU Are An Integral Cog — Here’s Why

The word “system” has two suggested definitions. Firstly, it refers to a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done — an organized scheme or method. Secondly, it refers to a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.

In my previous article, which I’ll link to at the bottom of this one, I recommended doing a “systems check” on your culture — the filter through which you view the world — as it tends to clog up over time with less useful opinions, viewpoints and coping mechanisms that aren’t necessarily still serving you. Without an intentional clean-out once in a while, our personal or team culture can become diluted, sluggish, or derailed entirely.

Today, I’d like to consider the second definition of “system” — a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.

Each one of us is part of a system. In fact, each one of us represents a cog in a wider system — be that in our immediate family, our extended or chosen (marital or relational) families, our friendship and social circles, our professional lives and our communities. The chances are good that, whether you give yourself much credit or not, you are an integral cog in each. How you “move” affects the other cogs around you as well as the outcomes of the whole.

I know it’s easy to discredit exactly how much we…