Making the Essential Enjoyable & Easy
Making Monday
I've heard it said that how we feel on Mondays is one of the clearest indicators of life satisfaction. Here is a quick thought on how to make Monday—and every day—work better...
Theory of Constraints
The Theory of Constraints was introduced by Dr. Eli Goldratt in his 1984 book The Goal.
Although it originated as a business management tool that revolutionized manufacturing, it has broad application and can be considered more as a thinking model.
Constraints are the bottlenecks, inefficiencies, obstructions, snags, and hindrances in any system.
The theory states that the output or success of a system is limited not by its overall function, but by the constraints that constitute its weakest links.
Achieving the intended outcome of the system is thus not a matter of improving the whole system. It depends upon identifying and remedying the handful of constraints.
Let's say we have a complex production line and want to increase efficiency by 10%.
We do not have to make the whole line more efficient. We can identify and remove a couple key bottlenecks and—voila!—the whole line runs 10% better.
So fixing a few things fixes the whole thing.
I've found this model to be an antidote to overwhelm.
In any big creative project—including life transformation—we can identify the handful of bottlenecks slowing it or shutting it down.
And when we find simple, practical remedies for those specific snags, almost magically it all starts moving forward again.
We don't need to throw the whole thing out and start over, as our reactive and catastrophic thinking often suggests.
We can just find and fix a couple small things.
And that's always doable—today, even.
Together, let's end the fight to change…
Delmar
