Years ago I read a book... actually I listened to it (many times) by Peter Senge, named The Fifth Discipline.  It was about thinking in totality, seeing things from a distant view where a system is in place.

From this book and I took a couple major disciplines from it for life.  One was the art of thinking in systems and the other was the concept of mental models.   Today I want to explain systems thinking in regards to my life and my children's lives.

Let me first give an example in my life so you may see how it can relate in your own life.  The other night I was installing a new shower head system in my shower.  The boys and I are in the bathroom with all the parts.  My oldest son is keen to state we should be reading the directions to our youngest son.  This may seem strange that one son is dictating this information to another but it is part of systems thinking being instilled from one family member to another.   However for years and years since my first son received his first set of Lincoln Logs we always used directions.   To this day he always refers to directions when building or assembling things.  Why do I mention this?  Reading the directions in full and having them in advance of a project is in fact a form of systems thinking.

You see when you step back and view things on a whole you are better prepared to work within that system even if you are only going to operate strictly within a small segment.  Now I'll return to my story of the plumbing.