Analyze --> Next Phase of Improvement

In my last blog: Improve Your Approach - Improve Your Life we explored the first two phases of the improvement process, and how to use the DMAIC approach to improve your life.

In this blog we move on to the most important phase in my opinion - Analyze.
"Where and When do "defects" occur." In this case, where do the choices and decisions in your life process breakdown?

In the process of our life, we must analyze why we make choices that do not support the attainment of the goals we set for ourselves. Often times, we are our own worst enemy towards goal attainment. We get distracted, make excuses, and rationalize why we must make choices that do not support our long term goals.

For whatever reason, we often start out on the path to our goals with a great deal of motivation and excitement, and as time passes, our desire and ambition fade away, along with the vision we are striving to achieve.

So, why do we do what we do? Because we do not hold ourselves accountable. We find a way to blame the circumstances, surroundings, or people around us for our lack of success.

For instance, in the case of weightloss - we blame the office potluck, lack of time, and sometimes the DNA of our parents on our inability to make good food choices for ourselves. When in reality, we have the ability to choose.

Here's where a life coach comes in handy. A life coach provides you with the tools and activities you need and works with you to analyze why you have breakdowns in your choices and how you can stay on track and remain accountable for your own success.

Do you need help improving your life process? Let's chat!

Improve Your Approach - Improve Your Life!

If "Life is a Process", then it is capable of continuous improvement. This is the first blog in a three part series that describes how the methodologies used in business to support continuous improvement can also be used to improve our personal lives.

DMAIC is a five-step approach for driving costly variation from manufacturing and business processes: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. In this blog I'll cover "Define" and "Measure" the other three components will be discussed in a future post.

As the backbone of the Six Sigma methodology, DMAIC delivers sustained defect-free performance and highly competitive quality costs over the long run. Business leaders use it as a structure for improving performance in areas such as customer satisfaction, operational costs, service quality, and countless other possibilities – each business has its own performance metrics that are critical for success. Each of us as individuals also have our own unique set of performance measurements - depending on what we want to achieve in our lives.

Define:

Define is the first step in the process. In this step, it is important to define specific goals towards achieving the results you want from the process.

For example:

The desired result is weight loss
Specific goals would be:
- Lose 5 lbs before Mary’s birthday party.

You want to lower your credit card debt
Specific goals would be:
- Lower your debt by 10K by New Years.

Measure:

You need a starting point and a baseline measurement.

In the examples above
- What is your starting weight?
- What is your current amount of debt?

In this step, accurate measurements must be made and relevant information must be collected so that future comparisons can be measured to determine whether or not improvements have been made.

Now that you know what you want to measure, you need to set goals or milestones towards achieving your goal. Break down into reasonable chunks

- How much time do you have?
- What is the maximum commitment I can make each week?
- How much can I reasonably achieve?

Once you have defined your goals, performed a baseline, and determined milestones and measurements, you will be able to utilize the "Analyze", "Improve", and "Control" phases of the DMAIC approach to aid you in achieving them.

Think about some areas of your life your would like to see improved. Define exactly what it is that you want to achieve, determine where you are currently at relative to the goal, break into small steps.. LiTtLe cHuNks.. mini-SucceSSes.. and have SUPER CELEBRATIONS!!

Life is a Process!

The more I learn and experience in life, the more I recognize that one can relatively easily apply the same principles used by successful businesses to improve the quality of their personal lives.

Its not about the exact science of six sigma, or the stringent management practices of agile, but more about the general principals of process awareness, control, and biting our improvements off in manageable chunks that result in measurable progress.

The process of deciding what improvements need to be undertaken and the measurable expected outcomes can be a challenge, especially when you try to focus on too many changes at once.

Even in business when trying to improve, successful businesses target specific areas to focus on at a given time. This gives them the ability produce the maximum results with quality.

I hope this blog serves as a guide to continuously improving your life process.