The best lesson I'm taking from the course isn't about AI

There are ideas you have to hear many times before they sink in.

Years ago I read Atomic Habits, and one of its strongest lines is this:

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." James Clear

It caught my attention, I liked it. But like so many powerful ideas we're not ready to absorb, I filed it somewhere in my brain and never implemented it. I heard the same concept many times over the years, with similar results.

What I want to get across is this: ICM isn't about reaching the goal, or the solution. It's about building the structure where the solution is inevitable.

Think about a kitchen: it's the 60/30/10 you already know.

The 60% is the prep: sourcing, inventory, the stations, the mise en place. Everything is set up before a single order comes in. None of it is cooking yet.

The 30% is the line: the timing, the order the tickets fire, who plates what and when. The rules that coordinate the service.

The 10% is the cooking itself: the sear, the plating, the part everyone calls talent. The visible part, and the smallest.

A chef doesn't rise to a great plate by trying harder tonight. They fall to the level of their kitchen. Build the 60 and the 30 well, and a good plate, the 10, stops being a feat and becomes the default. The structure makes it inevitable.

That's what ICM is really doing. You're not chasing the solution. You're building the kitchen where a good one is the only thing that can come out.

And it's not just builds. The same move works for anything you're trying to make happen, a habit you want to keep, a business you want to grow, a project you want to ship. You don't get there by pushing harder at the end. You build the structure that makes it inevitable.

So, two questions for whatever complex thing you're working on:

What structure would make the solution inevitable, instead of something you force at the end? And how could ICM help you build it?

0 comments

The best lesson I'm taking from the course isn't about AI