Welcome to this beautiful new day. Its 6:36 AM and I’m excited to be working with a new habit tracking app that makes my routine feel more like a game. It’s called Routinery and its based on behavioral science that really feels intuitive.
SEAMLESS TRANSITIONS
It has the normal habit tracking that most habits have, but what I like about it most is that it swiftly and seamlessly moves from one habit to the next with a timer that’s automatically running for each new habit.
NO FRICTION
This takes away the stalling or ‘decision’ making around starting a habit and makes it feel like the habits already under way and you just have to get moving!
CONTEXT
Additionally it has things like ‘context’ that appear while the timer is running so you can actually think through in advance where and how you’d like to accomplish the habit and rather than have to THINK more about how you’re going to do the thing, you just do it.
FEEDBACK
It also makes it easy to add time dated feedback so you can refer back to your habits or notes as you continue to optimize your different rituals.
FROM THINKING TO DOING
Ultimately what I think makes it great is it streamlines the process from THINKING to DOING.. just moving through the ritual feels so much more fluid than how I used to do it tracking from a google sheet with multiple clicks and too much thinking, which is where I’d get distracted or stall out.
GEMBA KAIZEN
Here’s another bonus.. I just got done reading a book called GEMBA KAIZEN, which talks about the Five S’s to streamlined production:
Sort, Straighten, Sweep, Standardize and Systematize
FIVE S’s
Sort: Observing and identifying, what can be eliminated or improved?
Straighten: How can they be eliminated or optimized?
Sweep: How can the space be tidied up so what needs to be done is clear? Systematize: Ensuring you / your work place practices the first three steps every day.
Standardize: Self discipline and doing the other four as a habit.
SELF DISCIPLINE
Now granted these kind of systems need SELF DISCIPLINE and it talks about this in the book. How one German factory was bypassed by a Japanese team of buyers because the Managers of one floor were smoking in the Gemba.
BUY IN
It talks about how this process needs to be implemented from the CEO and management down. Meaning without buy-in or commitment from leadership it won’t happen. That’s why it must get driven into the culture to be constantly improving with Kaizen and reluctant leadership gets let go of.
GEMBA
It talks about the environment: the Gemba, the place where the systems are maintained and supported and where managers should be more often rather than their offices.
MUDA
The book talks about Muda which is essentially the ‘waste between steps’.. meaning the less steps, the better. Reducing and eliminating anything that’s not necessary to production. It goes so far as to say that any motion that is not adding value is a waste. And any person not adding value is a waste (to the purpose of the organization).
VISUAL FEEDBACK
Lastly it talks about the power of visual feedback: think about the score boards in sports, white boards in the office showing Projects / Tasks & Progress or any other kind of visual feedback mechanism tracking top scores to help people feel like they are on the right track with positive reinforcement.
Why am I sharing Gemba Kaizen and Routinery together?
Because what’s interesting is how an app like Routinery could be incorporated into the Standardizing and Systematizing part of a “Work Routine” and the people that are working through the app would have a gamified , streamlined, powerhouse approach to moving through what needs to be done!
The less thinking a person has to do in order to know what’s next, the more likely they are to do it, with little to no resistance. It’s all about clarity and clarity without distraction. Routinery turns the phone into a streamlined focus machine especially if you already have clarity on the series of steps involved in each routine.
I see utilizing it to both train new staff on what they need to do, with times to improve that will get reduced for each habit as they get more efficient as well as existing staff, to reinforce the discipline needed to carry out key processes day to day.
The only people that may not benefit as much from something like this is those who have a more reactive approach to work, for example someone working in customer service has to wait until someone calls or messages before they know what process to run. So while they can still use step by step processes, they won’t know which one they are implementing until they RECEIVE an input.
So that’s about it for today. I recommend checking out Routinery (not sponsored by them or anything, just excited to implement this new tool and see how it goes.) And I recommend learning more about the Kaizen practice.
Vision: To create a self-sustaining paradise on earth where individuals and communities thrive in interconnected eco-villages, transcending the ‘monkey mind’ and connecting deeply with their true selves and the environment. Through the power of optimization, we aim to elevate every facet of life, ensuring a prosperous, fulfilling, and harmonious existence for all.
