Kaizen and dealing with people

When dealing with others today, consider the emotional bank account. Even if we do not know the person, (which makes it easier because we are not starting with a negative balance) we can make the first step by making deposits right off the bat!

Here a few things to consider if things are starting to south in relationships or encounters with others. 

• Big problems usually are a sum of a bunch of little problems. Remember lingchi, the relationship may be on its 999th cut. One more can be the death of it. To dig deep and discover the many cuts you will have to have an hansei session, look at your emotional bank account, and apply the “five whys” to peel back layers of mistakes. 

• Both parties need to make deposits. Thinking ahead can often give you insight on what is to come. The closer you become in a relationship, the more you’ll know what can make them happy. But be careful, the more expectation grows on both sides to know what to do too. So it’s going to cost you a little more to make that deposit. 

• Acceptance.  There has to be a level of acceptance to things that cannot be changed in a person for it to work. If there seems to be a little quirk about the person that is going to be a deal breaker, have the hard conversation and be upfront because we only delay the inevitable by pretending something is okay when it’s not. The small things you were able to look over before will not cut it now. 

Making generous deposits are really smart investments into your own happiness and future in the relationships with others!

Revisit your vision

Last night I was encouraged to revisit my vision, to keep it before me so I can chase after it. It’s hard to chase after something that was once in front of you, but now in a notebook on a shelf fading away due to time…

It all started with at church where Pastor Eric Clark encouraged us with one of the main scriptures was coming from Habakkuk 2:3:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”

He also added two things:

• You are closer now than when you started 
• Remember why you started 

As I had a little mini hansei session, I reflected on this in my thinking chair, I am thankful for coming this far. But I had to look at the vision, and see what is on track, and what is extra I just added that looked good. I’ve added new tools to my arsenal to get me to where I want to go, so I wanted you to do the same for yours. 

Applying this kaizen approach to our vision:

• Remember that our vision can suffer death from 1,000 cuts. It can slowly but surely be snuffed out if we unintentionally pay no attention to it. 
• Hansei is the looking over the vision and trying to see how we can get there in a way we can handle. This is keeping it before us so we do not lose sight of it. Motivation and momentum is the force that keeps us moving forward and how fast we’ll get there. 
• The Seven Mudas helps us to streamline the process by eliminating time wasters that delay and deter us from being the best we can be. 

Eliminating Defects

Our last of the Seven Mudas is eliminating wasted time and resources due to defects.  From a business standpoint, this is when You have products that require rework because they are not functioning the way they were designed to. Every step in production after the finished product will have to be delayed because the product has to go back and be repaired or redone. It’s good to get the kinks out when starting, but when your system is up and running and you have to stop because things aren’t working out right, delays will cost you time and money. 

In our personal lives defects are a little different. There are 3 areas I wanted to focus on for this one. Defects are the mistakes or flaws we have in our thinking, results of our actions, and attitude towards life in general. 

Remember it all starts with a thought. In our thinking, we’ll often develop defects due to the information we are feeding on. This is why it is important to check sources of info, and also the motives behind those sources. Most people believe in and act on those things they believe in because they feel that the information they have on a particular subject is true and lines up with their belief system.

Now, if the thought process is flawed, next will be the actions. We will say and do things that will line up with the thoughts produced. Many times if we look at our actions or things we have said and believe them to be flawed or defective, we can trace it back to where we got the information from. What was the intention of the foundation of that belief? Just a thought.

Those thoughts and actions will make up the attitude towards life and others. This is where we circle back to our main focus in this life we are living: Wabikigai! Wabi-sabi, Ichigo ichie, ikigai.

Wabi Sabi: appreciating and finding perfection in imperfection. 

Ichigo Ichie: Enjoying every moment and meeting as a once in a lifetime event

Ikigai: finding the reason for being, and allowing that to be the source for a long, fulfilled life. 

With this, always check for defects or flaws, and make sure the lessons life is teaching you are being learned. Many of the defects we experience are the very things we are to correct to make us better versions of ourselves.

Wasteful Inventory

Today’s focus will be on eliminating wasteful inventory.

In business, this is where what you have produced, sits on the shelf. If it has a shelf life, it must be sold or it will be no good. Even if it doesn’t, it must be stored at a cost, and kept safe and protected. This all will be at a cost to your business when you cannot sell what you have over produced.

In your personal life, materialistically speaking, the wasteful inventory can be the things that we accumulate and do not need. But keeping in line of what we’ve been talking about over the last 2 episodes, inventory of information and the thoughts we have produced from that.

You see, God has given us this unique ability to almost make anything happen we have the idea for. Not only that, but if we don’t know something, we can pretty much find a tutorial video or look for the subject on our favorite search engine. Remember, everything that ever was came from a thought first. 

Many of us will have an idea that must be introduced to this world and acted upon. But what happens is that these ideas will sit in someone’s mental inventory, collecting dust, or the shelf life expiries. Since the ideas must be introduced and acted upon, many will have the same idea or improve on it and the law of averages says that someone will get it, and run with it.

Let that someone be you! What is that idea that the world needs? What ideas do you have that speaks to your purpose, passion, mission, skills?

Do not let it become wasteful inventory!

Wasteful Excess Processing

Today we look at Excess Processing: 

Where in business, this focuses on products that must be repaired to satisfy customers needs after the production of the product has been completed. In simpler terms, having to go back and get stuff right when it should have been right the first time. Somewhere in the production line something is amiss or not inspected, and cutting corners may cost you you more time and money in the long run.

Today in our personal lives I’d like to continue the thought we started last episode. Over producing thoughts to where is delays or hinders us from our ikigai, the things we were born to do.

What can lead to this over producing is excess processing. Excess processing comes from the over-abundance of information offered or available to us that enables us to think entirely too much on things we don’t need to entertain. 

Don’t get me wrong, the more info we have the better chance we have making the right decisions. But this “information overload” is by design. Now, you find a ton of information to support whatever you decide you feel you want. Even if it is wrong. Look at masks, if you feel it is good, bad, or indifferent about wearing a mask, you will find data, statistics, groups, science, whatever you want to support you. The overload causes you to feel comfortable in your decisions, even when later on down the road you may change and regret the things that supported you. 

Remember this, whoever controls the information influences or even controls the opinions and thoughts of the people taking it in. The thoughts will ultimately dictate their behaviors, so most definitely look to see where and who is behind all of the information you are receiving. 

Eliminating Wasteful Producing

In business, this waste is due to Overproduction: When there are more parts in the production line than customers are purchasing. Since the balance is off, where there is more time being wasted in the production of goods that will not be sold, time, money, and resources are not being utilized in different areas where they could make a difference to the company.

In our personal lives, this balance is upset in the the things we produce the most, our thoughts. We spend most of our day thinking of things that really does not matter, about people who really don’t care for what we are tying to do, and waste time and resources in areas that could utilized in better places to our benefit.

Actually, we can overstimulate ourselves to inaction. Overthinking scenarios how this can go this way or that, where we actually miss our window of opportunity to act. We even sometimes sit and think of problems and then think even further into it by coming up with excuses of why it is someone else’s fault and why it will never work in our favor.

Let’s press pause for a second.

Take a walk through your thought garden.

Enjoy this Ichigo Ichie.

Clear your mind from the things that will lead to procrastination:

• Distractions
• Mentally Draining Thoughts
• Anxieties
• Negative Emotions
• Thoughts that de-value things

Enjoy the place you are right now. 

You are great, so enjoy the presence of greatness.

Breathe.

Reset.

Ready? Go conquer and do the things you were called to do!

Eliminating Wasteful Waiting

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint…” Isaiah 40:31

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”” Psalm 46:10

The 2 verses come to mind whenever I think about waiting. There are 2 elements to most of the scriptures that mention waiting on God. 

1. Waiting or being still. 
2. God is moving for you and with you. 

It is knowing and waiting in faith that God is working in the background. 

This is totally different is totally different from wasteful waiting in the seven mudas and kaizen. 

In business, wasteful waiting is the inaction period between one step to the next in your production process. 

In our personal life, wasteful waiting is simply procrastination, and something within the five areas at work causing a delay or shut down. 

• Distractions
• Tired mentally
• Anxiety
• Negative emotion as attached to the task
• Lack of motivation or Not seeing the value of a task. 

Today we want to put this into practice:

“I will not wait without God, and when I purpose myself to do something, I will focus on getting it done.” 

Nothing can stop you, God will make a way!

Eliminating Wasteful Transportation

Review:

From a business standpoint these are the “Seven Mudas” for eliminating waste:

1. Moving: Excessive movement of people or machines. It is more common to talk about people movement, as this leads to wasted effort and time.
2. Transportation: Moving a product or material and the costs generated by this process.
3. Waiting: A person or process inaction on the manufacturing line.
4. Overproduction: When there are more parts in production than customers are purchasing. This type of waste spells big trouble for an organization.
5. Excess processing: Products that must be repaired to satisfy customers needs.
6. Inventory: A valuable product or material that is waiting for processing or to be sold.
7. Defects: Scrap or products that require rework.

I wanted to cover the same mudas, but apply these to our personal lives!

Last episode was on wasteful motion: how we need to put systems, policies, and procedures in place so we do not have to repeat mistakes over and over again.

Today: Wasteful Transportation

When I think of transportation I immediately think of carrying something. So today’s topic is really about carrying the wrong things that we shouldn’t be. The Bible says, “Cast your cares…” and another is “Take my yoke, for my burden is light…”, but how many of us go through things and decide, “I’m placing this problem in your hands God” or “I’m leaving this at the foot of the cross” and after we pray, go right where we left it, pick it up, and carry it around complaining, that if only i had the strength, or help, or support…

It’s there! Actually what is happening, we are going back to wasteful motions. When we say we are “giving it to God” we really need a plan in place or an accountability partner to safeguard us from circling back and picking it right back up. 

Are there things you want to stop carrying? I know its a lot easier said than done, but this is why you have a group to help you. This is why you come up with a plan to keep you from the places you don’t want to go back too. 

The Seven Mudas: Wasteful Motion

Back in March, I talked about being successful in Kaizen Teian, one must always be looking to eliminate the eight forms of waste:

1. Moving: Excessive movement of people or machines. It is more common to talk about people movement, as this leads to wasted effort and time.
2. Transportation: Moving a product or material and the costs generated by this process.
3. Waiting: A person or process inaction on the manufacturing line.
4. Overproduction: When there are more parts in production than customers are purchasing. This type of waste spells big trouble for an organization.
5. Excess processing: Products that must be repaired to satisfy customers needs.
6. Inventory: A valuable product or material that is waiting for processing or to be sold.
7. Defects: Scrap or products that require rework.
8. Non-utilized talent: When the management team fails to ensure that all the potential and experience of its people are being used. This is the worst of the eight wastes.

These are also nicknamed the “mudas”, which translates to uselessness or wastefulness.

What I would like for you to think about this week is what these mudas look like in your life. Taiichi Ohno, developed his “Seven Mudas” while creating the Toyota Production System. Let’s look at them and see if it can apply to areas in our personal life too:

Wasteful Motion: 

Do you have everything you need? Or do you run around spending precious time gathering stuff you already should have with you because of procrastination. 

Do you spend a lot of time putting out fires? Managing things we feel that others should know, but they seem to mess things up. It may or not be their fault, but do you have systems, policies, and protocols in place for people to manage themselves? (The way you would like things to go with or without you being there?)

5 Keys To A Kaizen Mindset

“Productivity is not about how to get more things done; it's about how to get the right things done. It doesn't mean just doing less for the sake of less. (It's] about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at [your] highest point of contribution.” - Anthony Raymond 

Key 1 - Have making improvements towards your life and projects the foundation of your everyday tasks. 

Key 2 - Act on the small ideas for lasting change. Let nothing be too small and adjust accordingly. (Think of a plane’s flight from L.A. to Atlanta)

Key 3 - Know that when you do act, you are making a difference. 

Key 4 - Streamline what you are doing. Use a Hansei time to reflect and see how you can make your time more efficient. 

Key 5 - Focus on your focus. This means to pay attention to your project and stop being so distracted. Sometimes you may have to say no to things that do not fit in with what you are trying to do.