It’s spring and a new financial year is once again upon us.I’midling away a long weekend in the sun and this short spring break is a perfect time to look ahead and perhaps set some productivity goals for the coming tax year. However, as the bells of a nearby cathedral mark another passing hour, I am also reflecting on certain other resolutions that I made, wondering if I willstay the course. Last January is a distant memory. Another shellshocked year came to an end and I found myself making those same old promises to myself, like placing a message in a bottle and setting it adrift to be reflected on (or forgotten) somewhere in December.Butwhat if this is the year that things change and I keep my resolutions? I work as a freelancer and enjoy what I do; the work is intense and rewarding in equal measure and I begin each day as early as I can, eager to be the most prepared person in the room. Yet somewhere along the way I ran
At a loss of where to start this ‘great change’, I decided to apply basic principles of process improvement to find ways to step back and reconnect with things I had repressed in the name of ‘productivity’. Process improvement can be summarised as ‘proactively identifying, analysing and implementing change to a process (or situation)’. It is a large topic and there exist several methodologies, so I chose to follow a simple four-stage cycle of ‘identify, plan, execute
and review’. The first stage, identify, provides an opportunity to analyse the problem, which in turn may illuminate some possible solutions. I listed the activities of my daily routine, from
first thing in the morning to last thing at night. This allowed objective analysis and though the problem was obvious to me, theexercise certainly exposed a lack of balance, where ‘productive work’ was prioritised over everything else. For the planning stage, effective process improvement is about making incremental changes that can be easily applied and assessed, rather than attempting one enormous upheaval. Identifying the problem allowed me to focus on a single measurable aspect, something within my control. Addressing the excessively early starts, my plan was simple: begin my working day two hours later than the current schedule, in the hope that the spare hours would bring some space back into my week.
out of time. I blinked and the calendar had turned. On the surface, the year had been a good one, like the year before it, full of productive work and career opportunities. But what did I actually do? Not so long ago I was someone who found space during my week to pursue hobbies. I made art, I wrote for pleasure and even devoted time to a language class. I did things other than ‘work’. Gradually though, I was engulfed. Unable to switch off, I applied myself to a routine that commenced earlier and earlier. Everything else was squeezed around those extra hours at my desk, or discarded altogether, until I was in a state of perpetual frustration (though I would never admit to feeling this way). By mid-December I had small a health crisis. Completely strung out, my body was trying to unplug me from the constant state of work. I took the message as intended and resolved to break this cycle before I did real damage to myself.
The execution stage involves the implementation and communication of the plan. For me, this meant notifying my clients of the new working hours and investing that time in myself. The review stage is a key step in the process improvement cycle and would ultimately keep me accountable my resolution. In process improvement the journey is never complete and regular reviews are required to ensure the plan is being implemented effectively. In my case, would the new schedule provide me with adequate space, as intended, or would I need to make some adjustmentsto the plan? Reflecting on the months since January and those that lie ahead to December,I can see that applying process improvement has provided the foundation for the change I need, allowing me to slowly restorebalancein a way that does not further exhaust me and force me to abandon my resolution before the end of spring. Process improvement is only as effective as its application. Ensuring I regularly review and adjust my plan as neededwill keep me focussed on those incremental changes that enable me to nurture things I had left behind. I still have a long road ahead but I can be hopeful, for the first time, that I will keep the fire burning on my resolution and stay the course to December.