Lean Self

(This is my first article, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!)

Lean manufacturing is a tried and true concept of how to improve a process. It has created many advances through it's organization of the method of improvement. This is important, but I think there is a key resource of manufacturing plants that six sigma strategies fail to address, human capital. In particular, people's thoughts and how they can better organize them.

Philosophy was once a well studied subject in human society. Nowadays it’s not often thought about and usually dismissed as having little use. I believe philosophy, in particular stoicism, can streamline the way you think, the same way six sigma streamlines manufacturing.

Stoicism Methodology

1. Will

Will in stoicism is what governs your attitude to things that are within and NOT within your control. By understanding that some things are outside of your abilities, you are able to filter out unnecessary thoughts and focus on what you have control of.

How many times have you had co-workers complain about changes in company policies that they have no part in? How many times have those complaints ever lead to real change?

The quicker you are able to accept things outside of your control, and adapt to these changes, the less burdensome they will be on your mind. The less time you think about uncontrollable issues, the more time you have to think about problems that are under your jurisdiction.   

2. Action

Action, it’s what you do! Right? Stoics think of action as something purely in your control. With will you’ve filtered out what you cannot control, and now you are focusing on what you can control.

It is a good practice to repeat the questions “What am I doing? How does this further something I care about?” and use the answers to these questions to determine if you should continue an action. It’s incredible how many times you will automatically spend time doing something due to outside influence or habit that actually doesn’t progress you in any professional or personal way.

By pushing yourself to be more conscious about what you’re doing, you’ll be able to refine what you do and accomplish meaningful goals.

3. Perception

Now that you know to filter out things outside of your control, and actions that don’t lead to progress in personal and professional goals, you must learn how to determine if something is in your control and what your goals should be. This is where perception comes in.

Stoic perception, at the most general definition, is maintaining absolute objectivity of thought. This means that nothing is good or bad, it is just your perception that gives people, places, ideas, and objects these labels.

When changes occur, people tend to respond emotionally to it immediately. By thinking about it objectively, you attack it from another perspective. This additional perspective helps you determine if the change is truly for the better or worse. Better? Good that's one less thing to worry about. Worse? Good, you've validated that feeling, and now can considered taking action to correct it.

This way of thinking has really helped me clear my mind on the job to focus on what I need to do. This is how I continue to lean out a process, not a physical process, but the process of thought. #LeanSelf