Today someone said to me, “Let’s just put some systems in place so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time we try to succeed.”

Now, I’m all for efficiency.

And I’m all for success.

But just because there’s a “system” in place for growing your business, building a blog, or whatever else you’re hoping to do in life, you don’t have to use it.

Buck the status quo.

Be your own person.

Change the world.

The Cog Wheel

Did you know that before cogs (you know, those little toothy wheels used to turn bigger toothy wheels?), engineers tried to use wheel on wheel pressure to turn momentum from one shaft to another?

Imagine if someone would have told them not to reinvent the wheel.

What if they had just taken for certain that their system was the best one out there.

Changers of the world

And what about Aristotle, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln, or Steve Jobs?

Do you think there was already a system in place for building computers when Steve Jobs got on the scene?

You bet there was.

Was there a system for selling and marketing them?

Yep.

But changers of the world like Steve, Abraham, Martin, and you and me can’t settle for the status quo.

It’s time to question everything

It’s time to ask questions.

It’s time to assume everything you’ve ever been told about “right” and “wrong” is incorrect.

Will you find, after all your work, research, time, effort, blood, sweat and tears that the current “wheel” really is the best way to go?

Maybe.

But it’s in those moments when you learn how to build a cog that something magical happens.

A change happens inside of you.

And once you feel the fire of making something better, of changing your world in a positive way, there’s no turning back.

Today, forget the wheel.

Invent a cog.