Where do you begin your continuous improvement journey?

Your journey starts here

It's not super hard to start your journey to improving anything and everything. First, I want you to think about one thing...think about the process or situation that BUGS you the most. I mean it really gets under your skin. Maybe it's the process of doing and putting away laundry, or making dinner or that dang report you dread working on for your boss every Friday (due by 10am). That "thing", that process or task that bugs you the most is where you begin your improvement journey.

Start small with that annoying thing that bugs you the most. Wouldn't you love to have a more organized backpack, purse or diaper bag? How about actually being able to find what you are looking for in there instead of rummaging around the "black hole" of a bag to only find a smushed granola bar and paper clips down at the bottom when you were just trying to look for a pen? What about your vehicle? Does the sight of your car with papers, wrappers, receipts and misc food items bug you the most? How about trying to remember the 10,000+ passwords for every system, every website, every app you have ever used (or tried to get that coupon)?

Things that "bug" me the most would be any activity that I believe is wasting time or taking "too long" to complete. I focus on improving these processes first because I value TIME in my life. The faster and more efficient I can be, allows me to have more time to work on other things that I find valuable like furthering my knowledge, being creative, riding horses and traveling with my hubby on our motorcycles. What do you value? How do you define "value" in your world?

I value time, but my hubby values efficiency. I have a friend that values money. Another values a good night sleep (parent of twin babies). There is no right or wrong answer to this. For goodness sake, people still value Chia Pets (or they wouldn't keep making them). What we value can change over time also. People valued being able to tell time by using a sundial, a pocket watch, then a wrist watch (the kind you hand to wind up), a digital wrist watch and now a watch/fitness app/heart rate monitor/fall detector/step counter/buy your coffee using your wrist type of "watch."

What you value is important to you, but it's also important to understand what your boss values, what your customers value, what your partner values. In a traditional sense, value is something that a "customer" is willing to pay for, transforms a product or service (makes it better) and is done right the first time. So yes, I value my new battery operated heated gloves that arrived at my house the day after I ordered them, with the batteries fully charged and ready to go when I opened the box. My hubby would never value anything like that, and that's ok too!

Take a moment, figure out what "bugs" you the most and what you value. Think about how you can make that thing or process better so it's even more valuable to you. Let's look at a way to ensure that when you improve that "thing", that the improvement sticks, until you make it better again. The circle of life..err...continuous improvement!