Motivation Monday!

I've heard that there's a misconception when it comes to working environments. There is definitely a correlation between high morale and productivity. The misconception is that high morale leads to high productivity, but it's really the other way around. When people are able to produce, to meet their goals, their morale increases. If their morale is high, but they can't meet their productivity goals, the morale will drop again. The effect of improvements in work environments is really on productivity (people are able to do more in a better environment), which then improves morale.

Why did I just go through all of that? Because I think it's good to see the improvement so far. Here's the original list of elements when this whole thing got started:



Here's the list now:



That's a big difference. How big? I used to set my alarm for 5am and barely have time for everything before 6:30 rolled around. I would leave late and get to work just before 7am. Today, I set my alarm for 5:30 because I stayed up really late last night, and I still had time to do what's on the second list AND write this blog post.

I'm still not down to less than ten minutes on all the required preparation, so I guess this blog still has a purpose. :-)

Next Day Items

I got the diapers completely done last night!

Here is my first attempt at a way to record what I should be getting the previous night to prepare for the next day.



I figure with this chart, my schedule can begin to look like this:



I'm excited!

Backsliding

I had hoped that today's post would be about a reminder checklist for items I intend to arrange in the evening for the next day rather than in the morning for the current day, but I feel that must wait.

I am still reaping many of the benefits of this SMED exercise, but last night, we ate out. It was the first time we had really gone to a sit-down restaurant for dinner in a long while. The effects on my list of elements were kind of devastating. AND the kids got to bed half an hour late (gasp!).

What happened? First, I did not complete the diaper-washing task last night. The diapers were washed and dried, but not folded, so I had to do that this morning. Also, my lunch, although made, was not packed. That is, I made the sandwich, but I hadn't put the sandwich in the lunch bag with the fruit and carrot. These items have both eaten away a considerable portion of my morning. I still have time to write this post, but the victory seems hollow. I shall be brainstorming solutions, but in the meantime, my morning has phantom elements in it:

Retrieve Items for the Day?

I think we're to the point where we need to talk for a while about what "Retrieve Items for the Day" means and why it might be a little involved.

Some days, I play games with guys at work. I'm typically the game-bringer, so I need to remember to get the game(s) before I leave the house. One day a week, the trash service comes and picks up our garbage. If it's a weekday, I need to make sure I have my ID badge. I hope it's clear that there is a varying list of items I need to make sure I have before I leave the house on a given morning.

I don't think it'll be a problem to move this task to the previous evening, except for one thing: I generally remember what I'm supposed to bring in a panicky state moments before I leave the house. I need to take some time and brainstorm a list of common items as a starting point. Then I can check the list each evening and set everything aside in an orderly, non-panicky state.

By the way, preparing lunch beforehand is working pretty well.

Here is the current list of elements:

Lunch Preparations

Another item that I think will move easily out of my morning and into the previous evening would be lunch-making. I hope the reader is not surprised to learn that we have a little checklist of evening activities, and that checklist already specifies lunch preparation for my wife and 2-year-old daughter. It is a simple matter to add my lunch to the list.

A note on diapers: I did everything but fold them last night, which left a little bit to do this morning, but not much. Overall, a big improvement, but I need to keep vigilance on my diligence or those diapers will creep back into the morning.

Motivation Monday!

The diaper shift has been a great success so far. This morning was special as far as work was concerned, and I had to be at work by four in the morning. I was able to get up at three to get to work by four (with a 25-minute commute). I didn't have a full Bible reading and prayer time, though, which brings me to today's topic.

Why am I doing this?

The truth about SMED is that the time savings at the changeover come from two places:
1) Getting rid of unnecessary steps. - This is something I can get behind, and it requires no explanation.
2) Moving the work somewhere else. - This is more interesting. When I move diaper washing to the evening, what am I really doing? I'm not getting rid of the diaper washing, I'm just shuffling it to a different part of my day. By doing this, I am saying that my morning time is more valuable than my evening time. It may "cost" me more to get the job done in the evening, but there's something about the morning that is more important.

What motivates me to clear out my morning? I want more time to read, write, and pray. It would be a dream to have an hour every morning for that. That's what drives the reduction of my morning changeover.

I'm about to ten minutes on this post. More improvement tomorrow!

Separate External Elements from Internal Ones

Well, the anti-snoozing measures seem to be working well! Snoozing was the only element I could readily throw in the trash. Now it's time for the next step: Separate External Elements from Internal Ones.

This means that I should examine the list and ask the question, "What could be done at another time?" What items must actually be done in the morning (internal elements), and which can be moved to, say, the previous evening (external elements)?

The first candidate that comes to mind is the diaper washing. We use cloth diapers for our 8-month old and 23-month old, and these need to be washed every day. Normally, I'd start the wash load right before going to bed. When I'd wake up the following morning, I'd move the diapers to the dryer, then get ready, then pull them out of the dryer and fold them.

Why not take care of the whole shebang earlier in the evening so I don't have to worry about it when I get up, saving me precious morning time?

Snoozing

I use the alarm on my phone to wake me up in the morning. It's REALLY EASY to just press a button on the phone and put off wakefulness for another five minutes. This snoozing seems to be entirely non-value-added. The initial alarm woke me up at least a little bit, diminishing the value of any "sleep" that may follow.

I think that this step can be completely eliminated. Here's how I intend to eliminate it:
Previously, I would set one alarm for five o'clock and then keep snoozing. Now, I'll set all three alarms one minute apart. The first will be at 4:58, the second at 4:59, and the third at 5:00. I think this will greatly improve my chances of getting up at the time I desire.

It worked this morning!

Elements

The first step, I suppose, would be to identify the elements of the morning routine. I think most of these can be subdivided, but here's the initial list:



The next step, I think, is to see which of these elements can be eliminated altogether.

Less than Ten Minutes

I want to do more in the morning! Right now, it takes quite a while to get up and get ready. This may not be a common problem, but it eats my breakfast, and I need to get a handle on it.

I've been learning Lean Six Sigma, and one thing has caught my attention: Single Minute Exchange of Dies, or SMED. You can read about it more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-Minute_Exchange_of_Die. The goal is to take a complex changeover process that uses a lot of time and rearrange it so that it takes less than ten minutes to complete.

Is it possible to use Lean tools to reduce a morning routine to the "single minute" range? Can I record the transformation in less than ten minutes per blog post?