Way back in the middle of winter, on the way home from work, I was listening to the radio. There was a guy being interviewed about what he did for a living. His job? He's an efficiency expert. He mentioned a system he uses and it sounded intriguing to me. So, I looked it up online when I got to the house, printed off the information, put it into a folder, and promptly forgot all about it.
This past weekend, I had a phone call from an old friend. I hadn't talked with her in awhile and asked her what she'd been doing lately. Her response? She told me she'd been cleaning out her closets. Hmmm...I thought to myself...I need to do that too, but not now. One of these days maybe. She asked me something and our conversation drifted easily down a different path. We caught up and had a nice visit.
A couple of days later, thinking about how good it was to talk with her, it dawned on me. What was it she said? She was cleaning her closets. Uh huh -- that's what she said. I hadn't been paying close attention. I was distracted and been busy with other things -- and didn't realize how out of touch I really was. I think I just woke up.
I began to look around. Things are going on -- at major discount stores, at home improvement centers, and in transformed grocery store parking lots. Plants are arriving, greenhouses have popped up, garage sales in full swing, citywide clean-up events are being held, lawn mowers and weed eaters are buzzing. It's Springtime!
Time to dig out the efficiency expert's information I put into that folder back in February. The efficiency expert uses a 5-S system. It's useful no matter where you are -- or what you do. It translates easily from your workplace to your home. The principles of this system can go from manufacturing environments, to retail businesses, to your home, your office, or your workshop. One size fits all. Following the basic rules in the 5-S system creates control out of chaos. Ready to bring some order to your chaos?
Here are the five parts of the system: Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.
To give you a clear idea how the system works, here are three examples:
We'll start with your home. Are the spices in your kitchen all in one place and handy to get to? Can you put your hands on that expensive vanilla bean you purchased without searching through everything in your cabinet? Here's an easy project that will give you direct results. Take all the spices out of your cabinet and put them out on the kitchen counter. Sort through all the spices you have, throw out the ones that have expired or are over a year old. Make a list of those you need and get them the next time you go to the grocery store. Get your cleaning equipment out and clean off the shelves, wipe off each individual spice container, and put each one back in your cabinet in some sort of order that makes sense to you. The next time you need some spices, they're in your cabinet -- sorted, straightened, shined, standardized, and ready for you to sustain. Now you can locate those spices quickly. Use that spice, put it back where it belongs, and you're successfully using the 5-S system.
In your workshop, if you can't find the hammer, the router, the measuring tape, or the duct tape quickly and easily, you might want to get busy with the 5-S system. Time to clean out your workshop, sort the tools, decide which tools to repair or throw out. Make a list of the replacements you need, clean the tools you have, put them back in your workshop in an organized way that fits the way you use them. The next time you need a tool for a job, it'll be easy to find. Don't forget to clean it, check for any damage or wear before you return that tool to where it lives.
You can do the same thing with your computer. Defragment the disk. Clean the keyboard, speakers, monitor, and the CPU. Clean out all your folders and documents to see what's really there and get rid of those you don't need anymore. Do the same thing with your email. If you have emails in folders that you haven't peeked in for at least two years -- you don't need them. You need to do some serious re-organizing. Old emails clog up your computer and it diminishes your computer's performance.
Once you get the hang of it, the 5-S system is easy. Take charge -- Wake Up -- Get control of your chaos. It's time for some Spring Cleaning!
