A few steps that make your life easier!

While in the military we always had a protocol for everything. The main purpose was to enable us to be as ready as possible for unexpected events. We cleaned weapons to ensure that they would be ready to go. We also did periodic maintenance on vehicles, tested and fueled aircrafts, and prepared ourselves physically.

There are certain individuals that go into the military and don’t see a purpose to all the details that we are taught. They perceive them as unnecessary steps to the process. Anyone that has gone through the Army or Marine’s Basic training can tell you that throughout the whole experience there are many obstacles thrown at you to test how committed you are to following rules and the established procedures.

Some steps might even look inefficient or counter-productive since additional steps are added to what should be a simple process. For example if there is an entrance to the building close by, they might force you to go all the way around to furthest entrance. If you want to eat lunch, you have to make sure you do a certain amount of pull-ups before you eat. Making sure your team does not cut corners is critical when preparing your teams for combat.

It’s Human Nature

Sometimes it is human nature to cut corners and try to find the easy way out of a situation. In other occasions it makes complete sense that you cut a few steps to the process. What is the difference in cutting corners for the purpose of saving time vs. actually making a process more efficient?

Simple Scenario

Throughout the day I open my computer and open many software programs and have the computer running. I work many more hours than the average person during the day so that means that once I finish my workday at midnight (I start at about 8am) I leave my computer on and continue the next day without restarting it.

Paying the Price for Skipping a Process

Skipping a process that might take me a few extra minutes might cost me valuable minutes that add up during the rest of the day while the computer keeps freezing on me. Although I might think it is not efficient to turn my computer off after the day, it can turn to be highly inefficient. Especially when during the day I have been opening windows and software and have not closed them back down. Not only is this a distraction it makes your computer slower.

Lately I make sure that during the day I try to clear out my windows and close any unused programs so I can continue working with my computer running at its best. It might help me cut my work hour day a few minutes or even hours.

This process is an example of many that I want to improve.

Can you think of skipping something that delays you consistently, however you choose to make the same mistake over and over again?

photo credit by judepics