As part of my intentional living plan this year I am working on building some better habits. Now I’m not a huge fan of exercise. Mostly because it’s hard, uncomfortable and never involves sitting on the couch watching Netflix while eating cookies. However, as I move further into my forties I know that staying fit … Continue reading Intentional Living – Why I’m building new habits for a new year
Author: the lean minimalist
Intentional Living – Plans, Pitfalls and Too Much Christmas Cake
As I emerge from the fog of a couple of weeks of not thinking about anything more stressful than making it to the airport on time or ensuring that everyone got enough helpings of Christmas cake, my mind is moving back into the planning stage of re-establishing my routine for the next few months.
Intentional Living – Why a plan is not going to be enough for 2019
As the end of the year looms, I'm beginning to think about catching up with my intentions for 2018 and recommitting or re-evaluating these for 2019. Today I came across an amusing but oh so pointed reminder about how our plans are only set in stone for about a minute after we make them and … Continue reading Intentional Living – Why a plan is not going to be enough for 2019
Minimalism – I can’t believe we ever had that many toys
Recently I was going through some old phone photos and videos. They were from a few years ago when my younger daughter was still a toddler. Taken in our old, supersized house, I was staggered to see the amount of toys we had all over the place. It was in no way a small house … Continue reading Minimalism – I can’t believe we ever had that many toys
The Three Essential Things Every Company Needs for a Successful Lean Transformation
The pursuit of perfection in systems and processes has been the key theme of my career for twenty years. Now I’ve read a ton of books, lean books, theory of constraint books, books about how to combine theory of constraints and lean and don’t even get me started on books about six sigma. But earlier in my career I found that not one of those books gave me any pointers on how to move a company from one state to another in terms of culture, or how to create momentum. For sure, I knew about Value Stream Mapping, PDCA cycles and Just in Time but what I was lacking was the secret formula to making lean or any other methodology really work.
The Most Exciting Thing
As we have gotten closer and closer to the end of the first stage, our team has started talking about what happens next and which areas of the process will be worked on next. The resulting plan is so exciting that we all feel like something wonderful is just around the corner.
A Year of Living Intentionally
I think the real lesson I’ve learned this year is that despite the obstacles, the chaos and the general randomness of life, attempting to live intentionally creates a solid, reassuring theme through it all.
