Why and How I Build Systems for My Life

The term ‘building systems’ is thrown around a lot but once you understand what it actually means, it’s incredibly powerful.

I define a ‘system’ as a tool I created or set of instructions I follow to consistently replicate an outcome.

For example, in my Unreal Engine game I’ve been working on, I built a Dialogue system that lets a player choose 1-3 reply options to any piece of speech a NPC has and get different following dialogue depending on it.

Yesterday I used this same system to create a phone that chooses a set of dialogue based on the number you dialed.

I’ve done the same with a Door that lets me have the same behavior and customization options on every door in my game (lock with a key, open in one or both directions, etc.).

Building things like this takes more time initially to ensure it can easily be reused in the future, but every additional time you use it in the future takes less time.

You can apply this idea to anything in your business or life.

I have a ‘system’ for making YouTube videos and for building new web development projects.

Doing this is also the fastest way I’ve found to get good at a new thing.

One Month With The 14" M4 Max MacBook Pro (Real World Review)

After a month of using the 14” M4 Max every day I put together all my thoughts into a single video. I’m very happy with this machine and how it’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it (Blender, UE5, Davinci Resolve)

Things I’ve found interesting

Links to valuable stuff I thought was worth sharing

A Billionaire's Guide To Going From $4/hour to $1 Billion Net Worth - Dharmesh Shah - This is one of those podcast episodes you have to go back and listen to multiple times. Dharmesh is a super down-to-earth guy and shares a ton of value.

Speak Like A Leader: Make People Respect You - I had to pause this video to send it some friends it was so good. Lelia Hormozi is a genius with leadership and I've been enjoying Simon Quibb's content recently.

Marvel Rivals - I've been playing this game with my brother the last couple of nights and I've been pleasantly surprised with it.

Claude - By far my favorite LLM at the moment. I re-subscribed to the pro plan as it's been super helpful for all types of programming and idea generation recently.

Opal - The best screen time app I've used. The UX is great and it's saved me so much time already.

Have a great week.

Cole

P.S. If you found this letter helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend :)