Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Man, did I have a bad week.
Actually, two bad weeks.
To be more accurate—a horrible eleven days.
As many of you know, in addition to creating content for The Day Warrior, I’m also a 9-to-5 professional working in the IT industry. Eleven days ago, we lost our main storage array, which supports production, engineering, and nearly every other process my company has developed over the last seventeen years.
The system was outdated. Both the operating system and hardware were no longer supported. Parts were shipped in from as far away as Peru—refurbished modules, UPS units, switches, and hard drives—all to buy us another chance.
We had three of the best companies in the industry on the phone and in our data center trying to help us recover. For eleven straight days, I was in mental hell—leading, weighing options, and praying that we wouldn’t shut down the factory. Millions of dollars were on the line.
Finally, on Sunday morning, one of my technicians remounted a disk everyone thought was dead and critical to the recovery process. The sound he let out was primal—a sigh of relief that came from a man who had stared into hopelessness and suddenly saw the light.
It was an amazing moment.
Why Systems Matter When Darkness Hits
In life—and in business—we all face these valleys of darkness. Sometimes it’s family struggles, health battles, financial stress, or professional crises. In those moments, the temptation to give up is real.
But this is where systems save you.
Systems are your walking stick and your staff. They don’t just keep you moving forward in good times—they keep you standing when chaos surrounds you.
Here’s why:
1. Systems Prevent Problems Before They Happen
Strong systems—whether in IT, finances, or daily routines—are like guardrails. They catch small cracks before they become earthquakes. They reduce risk and prevent you from walking blind into disaster.
In this case, during and after resolving the problem, we identified gaps in the system we have in place to monitor our systems. It is always important to reevaluate and optimize your systems so they support you effectively. In the case of our system outage, we found there were gaps in the monitoring systems put in place; the outage could have been prevented with some earlier warnings. There was hardware that was flagged as a problem. Had we replaced it earlier, we could have avoided the outage altogether.
2. Systems Provide Clarity in Chaos
When panic sets in, emotion clouds judgment. Systems are your playbook. They provide you with predetermined steps to follow, so you’re not left guessing when the pressure is highest.
This was not my first critical system outage in my career, but it may have been the worst. That being said, some of the systems I have put in place have helped me stay calm through this near-disaster.
Number one on my list is the systems that ensure I get my daily exercise in. Throughout the entire outage, I managed to get my daily workout in. Was it the full workout? Not on most days, there was just no time, but I did hit my minimum goals. I walked the factory floor for hours while on calls or waiting for the next milestone to be reached.
I did ask myself if I was being crazy sticking to some form of exercise routine even while trying to recover from a system outage. The answer is a resounding no. Keeping a consistent workout system isn’t just about physical health—it’s about mental clarity. When chaos hits, your body craves stability. Exercise regulates stress, clears mental fog, and resets your perspective. It’s a simple, repeatable system that allows you to think clearly when everything else feels uncertain.
On top of it, accomplishing your exercise goals for the day provides a positive dopamine hit when every other feeling you have is bad.
The other systems I have implemented are at the team level. It was not always this way, but over the years, I have implemented ways to bring clarity by empowering others to perform without waiting for orders. Consider checklists, runbooks, or clear escalation procedures. When my IT team lost the storage array, they didn’t sit frozen waiting for me to tell them every move. We had recovery systems and roles in place; they knew exactly what to do. That structure gave them confidence, reduced bottlenecks, and freed me to focus on the bigger picture.
Were these recovery systems perfect? No, they were not. But there was a baseline for people to work from.
3. Systems Keep You Moving When Motivation Fails
In the darkness, you don’t feel like pushing forward. Discipline is hard. Motivation disappears. Systems make the choice for you—because habits already set in motion keep carrying you forward.
One system I’ve implemented—and coached my team on for quite some time—is to always consider parallel paths to solving a problem. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Systems like this keep you from getting fixated on one approach and missing better options.
This outage, as horrible as it was, gave me a glimpse of that system finally taking root. Instead of spinning on a single idea, my team split up to divide and conquer:
One group stayed locked in on the fastest path to recovery—getting the hardware back online.
Another group dug into the worst-case scenario—resurrecting our ancient tape backup system. (Yes, the system is so old it still runs on tape!)
A third group engaged with key business leaders—mapping out the critical steps to recover business processes once the system returned.
Was it perfect? No. I still had to step in at times to keep the parallel work moving. However, the key was that we had a system in place that compelled us to approach the problem from multiple angles. That’s what kept us moving forward when the obstacle looked impossible.
That’s the real power of systems. They don’t just keep you busy—they keep you from getting stuck.
4. Systems Build Resilience for the Long Fight
Without systems, every crisis feels like a mountain you must scale from scratch. With systems, you’ve already built the muscles to climb. The structure, discipline, and consistency you built in better times pay dividends in the worst times.
Here’s the truth: systems are not built overnight. They are shaped through years of new experiences, trial and error, and lessons learned. Our ability to recover from this outage wasn’t because we suddenly created new systems on the spot. We recovered because of the systems we had built and refined over the years of professional and personal experience.
Every late-night issue we solved, every process we improved, every lesson from past failures—all of it stacked together to create the framework that carried us through this eleven-day storm.
This same principle applies everywhere in life:
Finances: The person who weathers a job loss is usually the one who has already built a system of budgeting, saving, and living below their means.
Fitness: The athlete who bounces back from injury is the one with years of training discipline, recovery routines, and habits of consistency.
Family: The parent who navigates a family crisis with calm is the one who has built systems of communication, trust, and shared values over the years—not in the heat of the moment.
Leadership: The leader who holds their team steady in chaos is the one who has already invested in systems of delegation, accountability, and trust long before the crisis arrived
Resilience doesn’t show up when life is easy—it’s forged in advance. Systems are the slow, steady investments that make you strong enough to survive the unexpected valleys.
From Darkness to Light
That sigh of relief from my technician reminded me: it wasn’t just luck. It was the system of skilled people, structured recovery steps, and relentless persistence that gave us a fighting chance.
The same applies to your life.
Your morning routine is a system.
Your financial discipline is a system.
Your workout and nutrition habits are systems.
Your way of showing up for your family is a system.
You don’t build them because life is easy—you build them so you can stand firm when life is hard.
Final Thoughts
Day Warriors know this truth: systems are survival tools that guide you even during your darkest days. They are what carry you when your strength is gone, when hope seems dim, and when everything in you wants to quit.
Build them now. Rely on them later.
When—not if—the valley of darkness comes, you’ll need them.
Stay disciplined.
Stay resilient.
Stay purposeful.
The Day Warrior
Hey everyone, first off—thank you so much for being part of this community and loving the content I create. Your views, likes, and comments mean the world to me and keep me motivated to bring you more of what you enjoy.
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