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I am really busy...why read this? - LifeOps Issue #1
I know I know...another blog, newsletter, article, or whatever else we are calling them now. If you are anything like me when you see something like this, then you have become completely numb to the onslaught of content trying to get your attention in today's world. It can often feel like you are an animal at a zoo and the screen on your device is the large pane of glass with a toddler on the other side furiously trying to get you to look this way.....but seriously look over here for a minute!
My purpose for deciding to start this is that I truly want to share what I have learned in the many years of trying to bring more efficiency to my life with other people, in the hope that at least some of you find it valuable and are able to actually apply it in a meaningful way. If this is successful, then you should save more time from this than you spent reading it.
You are a business (I can explain I promise!)
I chose the word 'Ops' (a.k.a. operations) in the name for a reason. Most of us think of a business when we hear the word 'operations', but the concept applies to you far more than you probably realize. You and a business have a ton in common actually, except that you just don't get paid just for keeping the business of you alive
. We are going to call your business You Incorporated and it has been in existence since you were born. Like a startup company, many departments didn't exist at first but have developed over time as they are needed.
When you are born, you just started with the essential departments needed to stay alive; human resources and operations. That is right, your operations department has been with here since the launch day of You Inc. At first, it was focused on creating the processes needed for life; how to get around, how to eat, how to talk, and so on. Human resources was focused on the categorization of all those critical people in your life that are essential business partners for You Inc. You have the obvious board of directors of You Inc; mom, dad, grandparents, and the occasional mentor. There might even be some siblings and friends that you have to begin to understand and create internal profiles for.
As we get older, we begin to understand that how other people perceive us matters to us, for better or for worse. This is when the delightful Public Relations or PR team is created to managed that ever-important public image that we want You Inc. to have. They are in charge of mitigation plans if disaster strikes or how we approach interactions to ensure we come out looking as good as possible. During this time, those clothes you are wearing and the way you styled your hair start to really spark some in-depth inner discussions. Welcome to the marketing department! They are in charge of the branding for You Inc. and work hard to add your unique personality and flare to everything you do; from the pins on your Crocs to the school backpack you wear. It ALL matters and is life or death! Is that cerulean blue?? I specifically wanted azure blue to match my calm and happy demeanor!!
Operations is still chugging away, but they have been around a while now and have thus matured in how the department is run and what it focuses on. They have added to their responsibilities and now define and maintain the processes for a wide variety of school, family, and recreational activities.
Oh no! You have to get a job now. Parents are just the worst
. You Inc. has now rapidly spun up the new sales department that is in charge of expanding your social network and handling those tricky job interviews. Before this, the PR department was just concerned with making sure your public image remained cool and likable 
but now you need to actually convince other humans, also their own businesses, to give you money in return for hours of your life. Welcome to business-to-business (a.k.a B2B) sales. This is all about figuring out how to clean up the office some when the important reps are coming by for a visit and making sure you avoid the less-than-stellar rooms (we all have them).
Once you have the job, you have to create the finance department because holy crap! You have a bank account with actual money in it now!
For most of us, our finance department is the equivalent of Veruca Salt in the golden goose room in Willa Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We want it and we want it now! This can sort of work for a while, but will eventually have to mature to actually sustain the business without the Parental Investing venture capital firm. During the years that follow, many businesses will choose to merge with a more mature company through the legal process known as marriage. If it is a female-owned business, then you will likely partner with a less mature company to help uplift it and evolve it into something better 
. (Thank you wife!)
So, you get the idea by now. The operations of You Inc. encompasses nearly everything that you do during your days; such as how you track tasks, how you get to your destinations, your eating routine, and more. These are all systems or processes that you have, whether you realize it or not. Some of them, most of them for some, are subconscious, informal systems that have been built over time without even realizing it. They might be inefficient or have negative side-effects, but they are still systems. My goal with LifeOps is to help you understand the systems that are involved in the day-to-day and week-to-week operations of your life and how you can improve those to create more freedom and improve the outcomes these systems have for you.
Process vs System vs Standard
I will be using these words a lot, so I want to take a minute to break down what they mean and the differences between them. They can often be used interchangeably across the Internet, which further increases the confusion as to what each one truly represents. In reality, they are related but distinctly different concepts. Here is a breakdown of each in relation to how I will be using them throughout my writings:
Lets start with systems and processes, as these are more related with one another. As you all have certainly already seen, I love analogies for things, so lets use another one! For this breakdown, I am going to use a trip to the grocery store.
A process is a small, recurring thing you do as part of a larger system and involves multiple steps. For example, leaving your car keys on a hook by your door to the garage is a process. You make sure to always put your key there to ensure the larger system that involves driving your car is more efficient for you (and far less frustrating). Another process would be your drive to the grocery store or how you approach your path through the grocery store to get your items. Do you snake through the isles in order or do you sporadically get items based on what you remember first? These are processes that you have and recur each time you go grocery stopping. They might be inefficient or unreliable, but they are still processes.
The system is how you get food in general. What is your food collection and management system? This will be made of various processes to accomplish the desired output, which, in this example, is to ensure you have the food necessary to remain fed during the given time period and not be too hungry. The system can also be efficient and work well for your needs or it could not, and this is often based on the quality of the processes you are using within that system.
Now, what are standards? These are the internal, sometimes external, restrictions, rules, and/or requirements that you have that a given system, including underlying processes, must abide by or should preferably abide by. Given the example we have been using of getting your groceries, your standards would be things like not exceeding your set budget so that you can have the money needed for bills and other expenses. You could violate this standard, but it is likely preferred that you do not. Another standard could be dietary standards you have around eating well and/or avoiding certain foods. You might be a vegetarian and want to avoid meat, or you could be avoiding junk food. These are standards that should be taken into consideration for the system that is used. As you might expect, some standards are more rigid than others.
Why do I care?
You might be asking yourself at this point, why do I care about the difference between these words/concepts? It is important to understand this to help you better understand how you operate your life and thus how to best approach improving those operations. Many people get disheartened and overwhelmed when trying to improve an aspect of their life. In my experience, this is often caused by trying to tackle an entire system at one time or trying to create a system with no clearly defined standards. It is not impossible to do either of those things, but it is certainly more difficult and increases the likelihood that you will give up or not stick to it.
By understanding these basic concepts, we can begin to break these seemingly complex systems in our lives into much simpler processes that we can begin to optimize. As we do this with more and more processes, we will inevitably be optimizing the broader system they reside in as well. This allows you to focus on small, actionable pieces and also gives you the satisfaction of success when you can fix small processes more rapidly compared to overhauling entire systems. In addition, this also allows you to understand the standards you have that drive those processes and systems. Once you understand them, you can determine if they are the right standards for you and, if they are, you can ensure your processes and systems are setup to not break those standards.
It is a Journey
Lastly, remember that this is a journey. There is no perfect operations department for You Inc. People will try to pretend like they have cracked the code and have figured out the perfect algorithm for a productive and efficient life. Those people are wrong. I can say that with certainty because there is no finish line to this process and it varies for every person. There are commonalities that I will be going over in following articles, but the details around how those are implemented or what works better for you can vary compared to someone else. What works well can also evolve over time as your life evolves. Systems that worked great in one chapter of your life may not work at all in the next chapter. What matters is having the understand and tools at your disposal to continue to improve on these processes and systems to ensure they remain inline with your standards and continue to produce the output you want. I can tell you from personal experience that the systems I had before having kids absolutely did not work post-kids
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Don't get discouraged! If it seems like a lot, then try to reduce down to even smaller processes, if possible. If it seems like it doesn't make sense for you, then move on to a different topic or area. You got this!
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