Lean Person
Introduction
Being a student is perfect Life is boiling, bubbling in a full scale. Oh, if there were less work, how student’s life would pleasant! But the student – is a responsible person, who tries doing everything in time and with appropriate accuracy.
Seminars, lectures, sessions, work, free time, meetings with friends, homework - for all this you need to find the time, and still do not pick up any "tails", debt, and other delights of student life. When you do not have time you stop feeling free, happy and carefree.
Learning has never been easy. Especially now, when university programs have become more intense, while you have less time on learning of all the large amounts of information. So sometimes during one week the student must do so much that necessarily he wants to become ill for a week or two. Is not there a method that can solve this kind of problem? Of course, it exists, and I will not open America, if I say that this method is referred to a lean philosophy.
Lean philosophy is an approach to eliminate waste in order to add more value. It is an important aspect of life, especially if you are the student. If you set your priorities based on your goals in life, you will have a better chance of achieving them soon. That is why, I would like to present you some tips for organizing your life in accordance with lean philosophy.
Analysis of student’s life
Another big problem is the desire to do just a lot of things at once. Due to the fact that students usually are not focusing on any one task in the right least, the work does not always come out perfect for the first time and so they can change or improve it for several times. And it's awful, it makes you tired and knocks off the balance.
Really often the situation can be as follow: by studying a topic a student can come across some interesting facts that are not highly related to the assignment and as a result, a person can spend a lot of time on information that is not relevant to the work.
What will be in the future?
Types and sources of wastes
As we know, Lean Philosophy identifies seven types of losses.
1. Loss of overproduction.
2. Transport losses (excessive movement of raw materials, products).
3. The standby losses (production activity is not carried out during working hours).
4. Losses due to inventory (excess amounts of raw materials, semi-finished products).
5. Losses due to production defects (marriage).
6. Loss of excessive treatment (treatment, not bringing valuables or add functionality not required).
7. Loss on unnecessary movement (not directly related to the implementation of production activity).
Most of the working time is spent on the losses, and only 1/8 - on the creation of value and, accordingly, to make a profit.
So, students are not the exception, and they also face some kinds of wastes. And I would like to specify some of them:
Too much time in the Internet: it is hard to imagine any student without a phone in his hand. Almost every ten minutes each of them update his profile on Facebook or Instagram. It is quite useless things, because, actually, nothing important can happen in ten minutes, but it takes a lot of time.
Long distance from home to the University: a lot of students have to spend almost hours taking way from home to the university. During this trip most of them just listen to music, when they, for example, can read any seminar, and as a result they waste a lot of time.
Too much parties: student’s life is full of different events, especially those like night parties and most of the students spent their time just parting. I don’t want to say, that it is bad, but in order to rationalize your time, the priorities should be set.
A variety of extracurricular activities: The University usually offers a great variety of extracurricular opportunities and students, especially those, who have just entered the university, usually try to attend all of them. It must be understood, that you cannot sit on two chairs at the same time.
YouTube videos: a lot of students, while doing some tasks, like watching some videos or programs. But it is, in fact, unproductive, because you cannot concentrate on your task in a proper way.
Long time gathering at the weekends: most of their spare time at the weekends students spend with their friends and family, as a result, they have a very few time on making any tasks and have to sit late at night in order to make everything in time. (see Appendix A)
3. What can be done?
There are some advices how to become a lean person.
Planning brings us face to face with the reality of how much time you have and how long it will take to find the decision of those problems. When you see the whole picture, you can make every hour of your work day productive.
The distribution of tasks on the length of time reduces the possibility of procrastination. You do not decide to work or not in a certain period of time - a decision has been already made.
Do you think it sounds too mechanical? Not true. Studies have shown that even worth planning your spare time: those people who are doing it, have higher standard of living.
Plan in accordance with the deadline
Work fills all the time that you allow. Give her 24/7 and what do you think will happen? You need the time frame, if you want a balance between work and life. It also helps you work better because the frame forces you to be more effective. By setting a deadline, and distributing the tasks, you will be able to take control of this hurricane of duties. This is called “productivity, taken in a vice schedule”.
A sense of control over your schedule prevents exhaustion from work. Anything that gives a sense of control over the situation (whether it in fact increases the level of control or not), reduce the amount of stress.
Create a plan for the whole week
People do not want to be far-sighted in their planning. Every day you should know what you are going to do in each hour. Every week, what you are going to do every day. And every month what you are going to do every week of the month.
It sounds too strict? It's easier than it seems. We need only one hour each Monday morning.
Experience shows that we spend our time more wisely, when we follow the plan. Perhaps you think that it is enough to capture your weekly duties in mind. This is not true. The written plan is easier to follow.
Try to make everything in one place
Most of our time we spend at the wheels and in the traffic jams. It usually can take hours, driving from one place to another and as a result we can waste a lot of our precious time. That is why, it will be more logical to make all your deals just in one place, of course, if it is possible.
For example, when all your lessons are ended, it will be better to make your homework, for example, in the library of the University. Firstly, you will not spend an hour, driving back home and as a result will not get tired from the long trip. Secondly, some of your groupmates can help you and you will do your task two times faster.
Do not so much work, but do it perfectly
Perhaps you think that you have too many problems, you will never be able to deal with them in such a short period of time. And you may be right. But to give up or work until 22:00 is not the best solution, if you are seriously thinking of how to become productive.
Just do less work. Ask yourself: "What is really valuable in my life?" Then, drop everything else if it is possible.
We are appreciated for what we do best. Therefore, if you want to achieve maximum success, it is better to do less work, but do it in the best way. You think if you do not have time, because of the fact, that it is divided in small unpleasant tasks that suck the life out of you. So do less. And do it admirably.
Do less little tasks - focus on the serious one
Not all the work is of equal value. Mental case workers face two fundamentally different types of work: shallow and deep:
Shallow work - it's all sorts of stuff, like sending emails, meetings, information transmissions. Tasks that do not use your talents. Serious work uses your ability in all extent. It brings valuable results and improve your skills.
What is the problem? Most of us are "drowning in the shallow water." Most busy people make less meaningful work than those, who finish work at 17. The reason why they are working day and night, on weekends is in the fact that their working life is full of some trifles. They respond to messages, to transfers of information, and do a lot of things of little value.
Nobody in the history of the world has not become a major director because he responded to a bunch of messages, or because he went to a lot of meetings. Small work prevents you from fire, and deep work - this is what inspires you.
Create such periods of time in which the interruption of the cases is excluded. What is the best first step? Stop checking e-mail in the morning, the first couple of hours of the day. For many people, it's hard to imagine it: "How can I do this? I have to check posts to find the information I need to work with. " You will be surprised, knowing how often it is not necessary. You may need to check the mail to complete your tasks at 100%. But you can do the job by 80% or 90% before you go to Gmail.
So how do we tie all this together?
Conclusion
So, here are my five great tips how to become a lean person:
1. To-do list is evil. Create a plan.
2. Plan your day with a deadline.
3. Make a plan for the week ahead.
4. Try to make everything in one place.
5. Work less, but do the job perfectly.
6. Less shallow - more profound work.
Charts and plans - it sounds cold and serious, but the end result is far from this. You will experience less stress, create more time for friends and family, and do things that will be proud of.
Working in the mental sphere is the same craft. You generate ideas. You gain knowledge of the raw material and the more you will treat it as a master of his work, the more satisfied you will be, not to mention the large achievements.
References
Cuatrecasas, L. (2004) A lean management implementation method in service operation. International Journal of services Technology and Management: Quasi Experimental Evidence, Journal of Labor Economics, 27, 281-314.
Appendix A
Fishbone Diagram
