What you want is not necessarily good for you...

Nowadays, many people love to talk about their vision, dreams and goals. In general, I think this is a very good thing in particular if it really changes lives to the positive.

However, we need to make sure that our goals are indeed beneficial as things we desire might actually turn out to harm us. In particular, the media world which surrounds us creates a broad range of desires in us. Many of these seems exciting and give us temporary high but we need more and more of them. But no matter of how much we get, we always feel empty again.

I really liked what Donald Miller wrote in Blue Like Jazz: "I think the things we want most in life, the things we think will set us free, are not the things we need (...) the tricky thing about life is, really, that the things we want most will kill us."

What about your life? Do the things you build your life on, give you the fulfilment and satisfaction you truly desire?

If not, you might be looking in the wrong place...

Apply useful principles of the Toyota Production System to your life

Those of you familiar with the Toyota Production System will know that it is commonly used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of production processes in particular by eliminating waste and improve those parts that are absolutely vital to the core business.

I think that some of the tools and principles used are also very helpful when we look at our own life.

Typically, processes or activities can fall into one of the following three categories:

(1) Value-add: These are things that are crucial. Transferred onto your life, these are the things that directly contribute to your purpose in life. If you are a follower of Jesus, an example might be to contribute to the Great Commission by evangelising. The goal is to improve the effectiveness of Value-add in your life.

(2) Necessary Non-value-add: These are things that do not directly contribute to your purpose in life but that are necessary supporting activities. In your life examples include sleeping and brushing your teeth. The goal is to make necessary non-value-add as efficient as possible.

(3) Non-necessary non-value-add ("waste"): These are things that do not directly contribute to your purpose in life but which are also not supporting activities. In your life this might be excessive time spend watching TV. The goal is to stop spending time on waste.

Can you think of examples in your life where you can apply these principles? I have found them tremendously helpful in focusing on what truly matters.

I am looking forward to reading your comments.