This past weekend was a busy one at the Ross household. Among several other projects, managing wood was on the schedule as usual. While filling up my trailer with split wood, I had an epiphany.
In my quest to help heat the house with wood, I had created an incredible amount of excess work for myself. They say that wood warms you twice: once when you cut it, and a second time when you burn it. I wish that were the case for me.
Last May, we cut down several pines. I donated much of the wood to the senior wood program, which meant loading huge pine rounds into my trailer and making no less than 10 trips to Grass Valley to drop it off. The rounds I kept got moved to the lower property for splitting. It made sense at the time, since I had unhindered access with my truck and trailer. The upper property has a spot that holds about 2 cords of wood, and I have a wood holder outside the front door that holds enough for about 2 weeks.
So I split the wood and stacked it on the lower property. When the upper stacks run out, I have to load up my trailer and take it to the upper property. When the wood runs low in my small rack, I have to refill it from the upper stacks. And, of course, I have to bring it in to the fireplace when I want to burn it.
To make it even more interesting, we have been in the middle of a construction project that relocated the woodpile several times and blocked my access, meaning that I had to fill my trailer with small wheel-barrow loads. I estimate that our wood has warmed me 7 or 8 times by the time I finally burn it.
The seed? Consider thinking through a process completely so that your effort isn’t wasted. Why do 7 or 8 steps when it could be 2?
The beginning for me is splitting, the end is burning. How many steps I create in between is up to me. If I had considered where the wood was, what our construction project would dictate, and where the wood needed to be in order to burn it, I could have saved myself a lot of time and a lot of excess work.
What do we do that needs to be audited for efficiency?
How many steps do we have that are in place for the anomalies? How would our process be affected if we removed those steps?
What individual habits do you have that take away from your efficiency?
Have a great week!
Chuck Ross
John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and DISC consultant
Author: Change? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
530-277-6161
“They themselves are makers of themselves.” James Allen
