Core Insight
At 2:48 this morning, I woke up with one thought: I forgot to check the lettuce and spinach seedlings.
That little realization was enough to create just enough panic that sleep was pretty much over.
I tried a Lex Fridman podcast, hoping his monotone voice might coax me back to sleep. Unfortunately, the topic was AI programming and his very enthusiastic guest just gave my brain more things to think about. I moved on to Trevor Hall, and his mellow tunes were not a match for the thoughts racing through my mind. Then a Calm sleep story about Ireland. Nothing worked.
At 5:15, I finally punted and headed to the basement for a workout and checking my seedlings in the dark under the light of my iPhone flashlight.
Somewhere in those early morning hours, there was a pretty simple lesson staring me in the face: remembering is not a system.
Whether I am trying to keep lettuce seedlings alive or help ThreeWill grow, the things that matter cannot depend on someone remembering to do them.
Good systems create consistency. Great systems make the important things happen even when people are busy, distracted, traveling, or simply human.
And whether I am on the farm or in the office, I keep coming back to the same three ingredients: people, process, and technology. The right combination depends on the context, but all three work together to create something resilient. BTW, people, process, and technology is the “Three” in ThreeWill.
Three Concrete Details to Notice
1. If it matters, give it a home Checking seedlings should not be something I hope crosses my mind before bed. It needs a defined place in the rhythm of the day. The same is true at work. Important activities need a cadence, an owner, and a clear expectation. (Tim Coalson will appreciate that I got the opportunity to shim in one of the words he hears from me often – cadence)
2. Technology should support the process, not become the process I could solve my seedling problem with a reminder on my phone. But the reminder is only useful if it supports a habit and a clearly defined responsibility. Technology makes a good process easier to execute consistently.
3. Systems create resilience The real test of a system is what happens when the normal routine gets disrupted. Someone travels. A customer issue comes up. The day gets busy. A good system keeps important things from quietly falling through the cracks.
Simple Closing Thought
If something important is depending on you remembering it, maybe the answer is not to try harder to remember.
Build a system that makes remembering unnecessary.
This post first appeared on August 28, 2026 in Sowing Success, my weekly LinkedIn newsletter on leadership and organic farming. Read the original on LinkedIn.
