7 Steps to Realize Your New Year’s Resolutions in 2025

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, hoping to spark positive change. The recurring themes each year include a more active approach to health and fitness, improved finances, and learning new things for personal and professional development. 

Making resolutions, or goal setting, is like having your own personal cheerleader, rooting for you to succeed! When you set goals, you're making a promise to yourself and your dreams. It's all about being accountable and taking ownership of your actions. With goals in place, you create a structure that keeps you on track and motivated. 

Deadlines and milestones become your trusty sidekicks, reminding you to stay focused and disciplined. By sticking to your plan and putting in the effort day in and day out, you develop habits that pave the way for your growth and success, whether it's in your career or personal life. 

Despite the best of intentions, once the glow of a fresh new year wears off, many people struggle to make good on their plans. According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 46% of people who made New Year’s resolutions were successful. That means over half of the people who set a goal for the new year will fail! 

Naturally, we don’t want to be in the camp of folks who fail to achieve their aspirations and dreams for 2024, so we’ve put together an exhaustive plan for following through on your resolution. 

If you want to realize your New Year’s resolution this year, follow these 7 steps: 

1. Mentally prepare for change 

Changing ingrained habits is no easy task, so before diving head-first into your New Year goals, it is important to take a step back and get ready for that impending change. 

The first breakthrough in change is taking a personal inventory. Being that it’s the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it’s perfect timing to take stock of the past year’s accomplishments. Think about the following: 

1. What did I set out to do in the past year? 

2. Where did I make progress? 

3. Where didn’t I see progress? 

Naturally, your resolution may focus on areas that lack progress, but don’t forget to savor the progress made and find some small way to celebrate. Those happy feelings are useful! If possible, try to associate them with an object or word related to your accomplishment. 

You will want to keep upbeat with your new resolution, so you can use that positive association with last year’s accomplishments to remind you of those good feelings when you are feeling challenged. 

As you start thinking about the changes you want to implement, make sure to do the following: 

• Stay positive 

• Try not to make big/quick changes 

• Change should be gradual 

• Build on smaller changes 

• Allow a little room for error 

2. Set a goal that motivates you 

You would be surprised how often people set goals that are not for themselves. These goals could be dictated to or coerced by a manager, spouse, or parental / peer pressure. 

While it’s nice to have some external support, if you don’t share the same passion, the resolution has a small chance of succeeding and could even be dead on arrival. 

To do this, you need to make sure the goal you set is important to you and only you and that there is value or benefit for you in achieving the goal. It is these two things that will provide the reason and willingness to take action. This is also known as motivation! 

Thus, it’s a safe bet if your resolutions align with the following: 

• Your goals 

• Your priorities 

• Your dreams 

• Your aspirations 

Not only should you align around your innermost desires, but you should also make sure the resolutions align with your top priorities. This will lead to a “must do” attitude. 

If your goals are career-centric creating your own professional development plan is a great way to stay motivated on the path toward your goal. 

3. Limit resolutions to a manageable amount 

A common mistake in resolution-setting is having too many and spreading yourself too thin. We all want to learn 25 different languages, 15 new job skills, and eliminate 5 bad habits, but we are not superheroes. We only have so much attention span we can dedicate to self-improvement, so having too many resolutions is a great way not to achieve the many goals you have set out for yourself. 

Thus, you should make a short list of resolutions that you can manage in the upcoming year. Knowing that short list of priorities is the hard part. The key here is understanding how to prioritize. 

Here is an exercise that you can undertake to help you figure out what is most important in your life. All you need is a post-it pad, a pen, and a wall. 

1. Write anything you want to accomplish for self-improvement purposes on a post-it 

2. Each post-it only gets one discreet tactic 

3. Place each post-it on the wall 

4. Go crazy - use as many post-its as possible 

5. Group together similar post-its 

6. Place the topics you feel strongly about at the top of the wall 

7. Put the topics you feel “meh” about on the bottom 

8. Spend a lot of time thinking about the order of the first 3-5 post-it (groups) 

As you might suspect, #8 is the most time-consuming because it will determine what resolutions you are going to take on this year. 

The final piece of the puzzle here is knowing your limitations and personal bandwidth. With that in mind, you should focus on your top priorities while balancing how much attention you can honestly devote to a resolution. 

Final thought: It’s better to tackle one resolution well than multiple resolutions poorly. 

4. Be specific 

When it comes to setting resolutions, it’s easy to set bad goals that could lead to poor follow-through. Fortunately, the SMART goal-setting framework can help you craft better goals. 

SMART goals are: 

• Specific - Articulate the resolution as clearly as possible. For example, quitting smoking is better than being healthy. While “being healthy” is great, the wording can be interpreted in many ways.   

• Measurable - Quantify your resolution if possible, i.e., I will lose 10% of my body weight. 

• Attainable - Choose a goal within the realm of possibility yet challenging. Making 100 friends this year would be amazing but probably pretty hard to do. On the other, making 10 new friends is doable. 

• Relevant - Keep it relevant to your priorities and goals. See the motivation section above! 

• Time-sensitive - Give yourself a time frame in which to achieve a goal. A deadline will instill some urgency and provide a time when you can celebrate your success. 

Bottom of Form 

5. Break up big goals into smaller goals 

A lot of us tend to be over-eager and grandiose when it comes to resolutions. We have the best of intentions and may accidentally take on a goal that is too big to achieve. Thus, it’s helpful to divide a big goal into smaller goals that are more achievable. 

Now chunking up a big goal is easier said than done. Here are a few tips to help you make your massive goal more achievable: 

• Create a list of sub-tasks 

• Prioritize and order them 

• Use a visual map to display 

• Assign milestones to each task 

• Decide how much time each task requires 

• Allocate resources accordingly 

• Focus on the next step, not the big goal 

 

6. Review your resolution regularly 

Let’s face it, if you are not thinking about your resolution regularly, you are not going to follow through. Thus, a crucial part of realizing your goal is a regular review. 

At a minimum, this review should be monthly, but the more frequent, the better. 

Here’s one way to build goal review into your routine. 

1. Schedule a monthly “big picture” review during the first week of each month. This will serve as a planning meeting where you distribute smaller tasks and goals to different weeks throughout the month. 

2. Do a weekly check-in to check progress on the monthly goal. 

3. Set a daily reminder for smaller resolution tasks. 

It may seem a little crazy to think about your resolution every single day, but it is those smaller incremental steps that lead to massive changes over the course of a single year. 

7. If you fall off track, get back on quick 

Rome was not built in a day. 

We’ve established it will take time for your resolution to become a reality, and we know change is difficult. In fact, we’ve already established we should leave some room for mistakes and setbacks. 

Keep the following ideas in mind: 

• Skipping an intermediate task is not a complete failure 

• Missing a goal by 10% or even 80% is not a complete failure 

• Finishing a task late is not a complete failure 

• A moment of weakness is meaningless in the grand scheme of things 

Setbacks can happen, but so long as they are handled correctly, they will not impact the big goal. The key is to avoid a defeatist attitude at all costs, i.e., “Well, I screwed up once, why should I even try to do this anymore.” 

And if there is a setback, it’s important to understand what led to that moment and how you can avoid a similar situation in the future, i.e., "If I play video games after work, I will not go to the gym. Don’t play video games after work!" 

Once a mistake is made, own it and move on to the next thing. For example, if you skipped a study session, make it up tomorrow, and keep on moving. A few small mistakes shouldn’t spoil your resolution for the year! 

Remember, you can’t keep your New Year’s resolutions without persistence. The journey toward improvement is not a sprint but a marathon, and with the right mindset and preparation, you can turn your resolutions into permanent habits. Your chance of success will skyrocket if you can successfully turn your resolutions into lasting habits. Embrace the opportunity for growth. Let’s be different this year. 

Lean Tips Edition #309 (#3661 - #3675)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #3661 – Develop a Strategic Plan

Develop and review your strategic plan on a regular basis. Analyze the environment, the market, the competitors, and the available internal resources. Set goals and a roadmap. Review the operation of your company from a global perspective and do not get lost in one department. Visualize the short, medium, and long term. Automate repetitive processes. Introduce the planning of your resources, means of production, and materials. Consider technological evolution and investment as key elements to achieve manufacturing cost reduction.

Lean Tip #3662 – Involve your Staff in the Life of the Company

Usually, your staff knows more than anyone else where the operational wastes are. They know the opportunities for improvement, and they often even know the solutions. It's not necessary to make any large capital investments to tackle improvements.

Involving your staff will improve their well-being and the performance of your business.

Make visible the standards reached by the work teams. Share the goals with regular meetings and internal publications: boards, magazines, mailings, etc.

Lean Tip #3663 – Create Indicators that Promote Improvement and Pursue Them

Your company members need to know where to go and the performance indicators are the trigger. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that have a direct impact on your business. It will also drive all the members in the right direction. Combine departmental with interdepartmental indicators. It will favor the interaction of all the members of the organization.

Lean Tip #3664 – Eliminate Old Practices

The main part of avoiding complacency is getting rid of old and tired traditions that are obsolete. Because we live in a culture that continually makes changes and improvements, it is important for businesses to keep up with this to stay relevant for the company’s continuous improvement.

To get rid of old practices throughout your life, find out about stepping up your day by improving upon things that you already do. Let go of your former habits, even if they give you some benefit at the time. As time goes on, you should progress also.

Lean Tip #3665 – Don't Assume New Methods Will Work

Just because a method is new does not mean that it is improved. It is the main thing to move far beyond the status quo to be effective in business. This will probably require trial and error until achievement is accomplished. When it comes to your personal life, it might take some time to find a method that works for you when it comes to achieving your goals. Just Because something worked for another person does not imply that it will essentially work for you. Try a few things before you focus on a new method.

Lean Tip #3666 – Empower All Employees to Speak Up

Everyone who is associated with the success of the company—from the CEO to the line workers—should be encouraged to offer suggestions and solutions for problems that can be fixed or improvements that can be made. While you don’t have employees dealing with your own life, you can still energize your friends and family to make suggestions if they see things that you could work on.

Talk with different people about your goals and get their feedback. Encourage your family and friends to make suggestions if they see things that you could work on.

Lean Tip #3667 – Be Proactive For Continuous Improvement

Stop hesitating because of possible hurdles that you predict, and move forward toward your goal for continuous improvement. It is important to not take any chance in the way of improvement, and for each person in the organization to take personal responsibility for making improvements.

While it is one thing to sit around and discuss the improvements that should be made, it is a different thing to actually make an action plan to implement the changes.

Lean Tip #3668 – Maintain a Positive Attitude

Maintaining a positive attitude is one of the most important rules of Kaizen. Only by keeping a positive mind can you see new opportunities; opportunities to grow yourself and your organization. 

Only by keeping a positive outlook can you also foster the motivation to implement change and go after a better organizational environment.

Where there’s a will, a way is always found. A positive attitude and strong hope is what fuels a strong will. Without a positive attitude, you stop fighting, you stop innovating, you become blind to opportunities, and you start wasting your life. 

There’s always a move you can make towards improvement, no matter how hard the situation is. Never forget that. That’s how kaizen masters think.

Lean Tip #3669 – See Waste and Problems as an Opportunity

All the big problems your company is facing are nothing but big opportunities. Problems are opportunities to bring out solutions, to contribute value, to grow, to improve yourself, to contribute ideas, develop your talents, and consequently become better, more valuable, earn more, be more attractive, become stronger, and so on. 

If you want to be valuable to your company, society, family and so on, you have to solve problems, fix things, and create value. It’s that simple.

Problems are your and your organization’s biggest opportunity. The more problems you see, the more ideas you should have. You can always turn waste into gold.

Lean Tip #3670 – Learn by Taking Action, It’s Called Validated Learning

You learn the most by doing things. It’s called “Genchi Gembutsu” in Japanese or “Leaving the building” in English. You can read 100 books on how to swim, but it can never compare to actually doing it. 

You can’t implement change based only on theoretical knowledge. You must become a master of validated learning and superior insights into how things work.

Lean Tip #3671 – Choose a Simple Solution, Not the Perfect One

Simplicity is always better than complexity. Implementing change is hard, and implementing complex change is even harder, if not close to impossible. 

Therefore, choose a simple solution you can start implementing immediately. A successfully implemented small change will motivate you to implement new and bigger changes.

By doing so, you will increase your capacity and stamina for more complex change. Small progress can always lead to bigger progress, but in the beginning, forget about the  big steps and start small. 

Choose simple solutions to start with. Never be afraid to progress slowly in the beginning, only be afraid of stopping.

Lean Tip #3672 – Seek the Wisdom of Ten People Rather Than the Knowledge of One

In the information age, there’s a rule that you have to go for the best knowledge right away. We produce and duplicate so much information that you can easily get lost in bad advice and useless info. 

So, you have to be extremely picky about what information you consume.

Nevertheless, you should never seek the knowledge of only one person. Everyone has their own interpretation of the world (subjective reality) and everyone sees the situation from a different angle. 

The more angles you understand, the closer you can get to the objective reality (the truth). Consequently, you better understand the problem and what needs to be done. 

In addition, the more ideas you receive, the easier you can integrate them and innovate further.

Lean Tip #3673 – Accept No Excuses and Make Things Happen

Excuses don’t make products and services better, innovations do. The Japanese Kaizen philosophy illustrates the value in being proactive. In our technology driven world, there are ample tools and products to interact with customers. These customer interactions can be used to shape the products and services as per the needs of the customers.

The idea is to find a bunch of methods that work for your company to deliver the results. The best companies find ways to make things happen, they build new features, services and products to pleasantly surprise their customers. They make things happen by constant experimentation and connecting the dots for their customers.

Lean Tip #3674 – Think Long Term and Foster a Culture of Improvement

The essence of Kaizen lies in the principle of continuously improving. This means that business processes must be constantly optimized and that every little improvement counts.   

Kaizen isn't just about solving immediate problems; it's about the long term. Manufacturers who adopt this method must be prepared to invest time and resources in continuous improvements that will pay off over time.

Developing a culture of continuous improvement requires more than just tools and techniques; it demands a Kaizen mindset, where every team member is committed to identifying opportunities for enhancement and driving positive change across the entire organization.

Lean Tip #3675 – Go to the Gemba, Act Quickly, and Standardize Processes

Kaizen emphasizes the importance of walking the shop floor, i.e., go to “Gemba,” to observe processes in action directly. This enables managers and employees to see the real problems and better understand operators' challenges.

Another Kaizen characteristic is the emphasis on immediate action. When problems are identified, corrective action is taken without delay to implement improvements swiftly, transforming obstacles into opportunities and ensuring that the workflow remains uninterrupted.

Once improvements have been made, new practices must be standardized to maintain the gains and facilitate future improvements. This includes documenting processes, providing ongoing employee training, and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that the changes bring significant results.

Lean Quote: Enjoy the Little Things, You’ll Realize they’re the Big Things

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Enjoy the little things in life for one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things."  —  Kurt Vonnegut

Busy lives encourage us to do more, achieve more, be more… and expect more. We raise the bar high for ourselves, our careers, our holiday destinations, our dreams and hopes. We mark the success in our lives by whether we hit milestones, targets, deadlines.

Many get caught up in the hustle, and sometimes I do too. More often, though, I’m able to see that the little things are the big things.

Here are some little tips to help you slow down, appreciate and learn how to enjoy the little things.

1. Slow Down

The truth is, you can’t appreciate the little things in life if you’re too busy, too tired, or too stressed to even notice them. And the best way to start noticing them is to slow down your pace and make a deliberate effort to notice what’s going on around you.

“I just don’t have the time!” Is that what’s going through your mind right now?

Hey I get it, you’re trying to realize a dream, or simply trying to make ends meet. Slowing down may be easier said than done. BUT here are a few questions I want you to ask yourself:

Do I really NEED everything I say I need?

Do I tend to take on other people’s problems as if they were my own?

Do I spend too much time on social media or on other things that don’t produce a whole lot of value at the end of the day?

And keep this in mind: Slowing down doesn’t mean you have to quit your job and retire to the Canary Islands. Even with a genuinely hectic schedule, you can carve out a few minutes each day to slow down and reflect.

2. Stop Chasing

I’ll be happy when… I’ll feel successful when… I’ll have made it when… Stop chasing what you think will make you feel complete, happy, successful, rich, fulfilled and be content with what you have now. If you chase too much, life ends up being all about the chase. What happens if the goalposts move or you can’t chase anymore?

3. Stop Waiting

If you wait for good things to happen, you could be waiting a long time. Instead start your own search to find things that make you happy, bring you comfort and calm. Take responsibility for yourself and your own peace of mind and stop waiting for it to drop into your lap. A good first step on this journey could be by exploring how to enjoy the little things in life!

4. Be Receptive

Not everything in life has to be shiny and irresistible. Sometimes we have to be open to receiving things that are subtle, quiet and hidden. Just because something isn’t bright neon doesn’t mean we can’t see it, we just have to look a little harder and be receptive to looking at the world differently. How you think about things determines how you feel about them. Be open to simple, little pleasures that you might have overlooked or dismissed before now.

5. Be Grateful

Don’t ever forget not to take things or people for granted. Be grateful for everything you have – for small and large things. A roof over your head, the food that you eat, air-conditioning on our ever-increasing hot days and your health. Most of all, being grateful for the people in your life — your mother, your father, your wife, your husband, your son, your daughter, your friends — all of them.

6. Be Present

The most important step in enjoying the small things in life is to live in the moment. It’s about being fully present and engaged in whatever you’re doing, not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

Every moment is unique and fleeting. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. So don’t let these precious moments slip away unnoticed.

Whether it’s savoring a delicious meal, listening to your favorite song, or watching a sunset – immerse yourself completely in these moments.

You’ll find that life is not necessarily about the big milestones but the tiny magical moments that happen every day.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, peaceful, and fruitful New Year!

A Fresh Start: 7 Tips for Making the Most of the New Year

At the end of each year, I set aside a little time to reflect on the past year, clear mental and physical clutter, and set some juicy new goals for the year ahead. I love the beginning of a new year because it offers the chance to start fresh and give some new energy to the parts in your life that need a little love and attention. 5 tips to kickstart your new year coming right up…

Reflect and celebrate.

Take time to mentally review the past year. What do you wish you had done differently that you can change next year? Maybe you spend way more time on your phone than you’d like (my hand is up!), or got sucked into the endless news cycle, or didn’t spend as much time as you’d like on the things you value most. It’s human nature to want to focus on setbacks, disappointments, and challenges, so after I’ve grieved any losses, and clarified where I’d like to improve, I make sure to write down what I’m really proud of. Even during the most challenging years, we can all find bright spots if we look for them.

Celebrate your own personal triumphs. What are you proud of? What did you accomplish in spite of the many challenges of the past year? Jot down all of your large and small victories and celebrate your accomplishments of all sizes.

Declutter your life.

There’s never a bad time to declutter, but the new year is a great motivator to get rid of the stuff that is no longer serving you. There are various things you can declutter from your life for a fresh start to the new year.

Decluttering your physical space can help you enter the new year with renewed focus, clarity, and awareness. It can encourage creativity and critical thinking, making it easier to tackle new projects, pick up new hobbies or revisit old ones.

And it can even improve your physical health, eliminating hiding places for dust and dirt that can exacerbate allergies and other conditions.

While your physical space might be the most obvious one to declutter, it isn’t the only thing you should consider.

Decluttering your digital space can also work wonders on your mental well-being.

Reflect on the progress you made over the last year – and the goals you didn’t achieve.

Looking back on all you’ve accomplished – and what you didn’t – is a great first step to take when giving yourself a fresh start.

While it may not be pleasant, it’s a good idea to recognize where things didn’t go the way you wanted. You shouldn’t approach this with a mindset of failure; instead, it’s important to focus on the opportunity for growth.

Not only will this give you some inspiration for what you might want to focus on in the year ahead, but understanding how you fell short can help you make the adjustments needed to thrive in the new year.

It’s even more important to celebrate your wins – little or big. What good things happened during the year? Did you move states, buy a house, or change your job? Start a new relationship – or step away from one that was toxic?

Material or not, these wins are worth recognizing and reflecting upon. It’s a great way to give yourself some positive momentum as you move into the new year, ready to tackle a whole new set of goals, changes, and challenges.

Pick a theme to focus your energy on in the new year.

Try picking a theme or a word to focus your energy on for the new year that resonates with your personal and specific goals, values, and priorities. Visualize what you want to create, and hone in on how you want to feel. Popular options include: simplicity, abundance, wellness, creativity, connection, and ease. This word or theme can serve as a guide as you make decisions in the new year. When faced with a decision you can ask yourself, “Does this contribute to my feeling of (your word or theme here)?”

Set some specific goals for the year ahead.

While vulnerable and scary, when I write down and share my big goals, I feel much more committed to making them happen. If goal setting for an entire year feels daunting, try setting smaller goals for the first quarter of the year. Three months is a good chunk of time to set some brave goals, and to make a lot of progress towards achieving them. Ask yourself what you want to be different in your life by the end of 2025. What do you want to do or accomplish? How do you want to feel? What do you want to contribute? What specific and measurable things will you need to do to get there?

Identify meaningful steps you can take to achieve those goals.

If you’re committed to making your dreams and goals become a reality, it is imperative that you break down each big goal into tiny micro steps, and schedule each step in your actual calendar. You can make sure that your calendar supports your priorities and goals by scheduling not only professional commitments, but also social plans, time off, self care, spiritual practices, and exercise. Sometimes I block out an hour on my calendar that literally says “Focus Time.” When it comes to goals and habits, it’s also helpful to commit to a minimum baseline you will commit to – even on your hardest day. This is how I started working out everyday after years of failing.

Give yourself some grace.

Changing old habits and routines is easier said than done.

While the new year might be a great motivator for making big changes, shifting your outlook, and setting new goals, it’s important to recognize that it’s hard to change everything overnight.

Keep this in mind as you approach the new year and give yourself grace if you slip up or stumble. Resist taking an all-or-nothing approach as you work towards your goals.

Give yourself a break and let it be ok to have an off day or two. Recognize what happened and refocus on what you want to achieve to help yourself get back on track.

Continue taking small steps toward your goals and don’t give up. Failure only occurs when you decide to stop trying. Every day can be a fresh start and a chance for a new beginning.

Lean Roundup #187 – December 2024

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of December 2024.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

 

WSJ Shows Us a Day in the Life of a Plant Manager — Including Lean Practices – Mark Graban discusses fascinating article about Whirlpool Plant Manage Day in the Life offering valuable insights for anyone interested in operational excellence, leadership, and Lean thinking.

 

Why We Need Visual Management… - Christoph Roser talks about the need to go out, understand your shop floor, see the problems, see the target situation, and create a way from the current situation to the target situation to do kaizen.

 

Whatare the biggest obstacles to an effective and sustained Lean initiative? – Michael Sinocchi asks author Bill Artzberger to share the biggest obstacles to an effective and sustained Lean initiative.

 

Year-End: Why Is Reflection So Difficult? – Pascal Dennis explains the steps to an effective year-end reflection activity.

 

Unlocking the Secret to Success: Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI) – Alen Ganic discusses the steps, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid implementing successful daily management meetings.

 

The Timeless Power of Gratitude – Ron Pereira discusses how gratitude transforms how we see the world and how to practice gratitude.

 

5 Whys: A Simple Tool for Root Cause Analysis and Goal Setting – Jeff Roussel talks about the versatility of repeatedly asking “why” to uncover root causes, address underlying issues, and even clarify goals.

 

Why Operators Need to Measure Their Own Data! – Christoph Roser explains why self-measurement of process-related data makes it so much more likely that the data is used for improvement.

 

Hoshin vs. Chaos – Jim Womack reflects on the Toyota hoshin process he observed in 2018 and how it has led them to design a portfolio of countermeasures to navigate the industry's current chaos.

 

Santa’s Hoshin Objectives: Driving Strategic Alignment at the North Pole – LEI shares Santa's hoshin objectives to improve how North Pole, Inc delivers happiness to children around the globe.

  

Top 10 Lean Quotes from 2024

Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we cannot improve.

10. "I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."   —  Thomas Jefferson

9. "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."   —  Confucius

8. "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."   —  Winston Churchill

7. "The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May."   —  Edwin Way Teale

6. "In teamwork, silence isn’t golden. It’s deadly."   —  Mark Sanborn

5. "The art of communication is the language of leadership."   —  James Humes

4. "Humans feel. They (want to) feel like they belong, they (want to) feel recognized and appreciated, they (want to) feel purpose, they (want to) feel trust, they (want to) feel safe."   —  Logan Mallory

3. "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking."   —  C.S. Lewis

2. "If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."   —  Johnny Carson

1. "The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."   —  Ray Kroc

These are the top 10 quotes on A Lean Journey website in 2024.

Top 10 Lean Tips From 2024

As 2024 comes to an end and we look toward 2025 I wanted to revisit some tips. The Lean Tips published daily are meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledgeable tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey. Here are the top 10 Lean tips from this past year:

Lean Tip #3595 – Communicate the Excitement

Many people resist change. Even when things are not going well, given a choice between the status quo and trying something new, many will choose the path of least resistance. Communication is key to getting employees excited and engaged in the workplace. To feel part of the company culture, people need to understand it. There is no doubt about it—onboarding drives employee engagement. Communicate your company mission and values through a fun promotional campaign that helps reinforce your company’s mission and values to employees throughout the year.

Lean Tip #3607 – Ensure Staff Psychological Safety

This is a crucial element to get right. After all, employees don’t want to feel like attempts at innovation could threaten their jobs if it goes wrong.

Your staff members need to be able to be honest and forthright about new product and systems suggestions, without fear of recrimination or adverse effects on their jobs.

So, one of the first things you should do when encouraging innovation is to set clear ground rules and let people know that their positions won’t be at risk if the innovation exercise isn’t a success.

Lean Tip #3608 – Be Open to Change

The first step in becoming more innovative is to develop a mindset that is open to change. Innovation involves coming up with new ideas or new systems for completing tasks. Being overly connected to the way things are done presently may limit your creativity. You can practice being open to change by participating in newly implemented processes or by attending a new work event or professional outing. You can also improve your mindset by telling yourself that change is good and that you can adjust to new circumstances.

Lean Tip #3639 – Improve Your Process with Time Studies

One of the most significant resources wasted within a business is time. Being able to accurately measure and gauge how much time a process takes on behalf of your employees can offer insight into where you can optimize a process. It’s as simple as using software to time a process. Then, you can analyze how long processes take and find ways to eliminate wasted time. This could be in the form of automating approvals and reducing touch-points, thereby preventing potential bottlenecks and delays from occurring.

Lean Tip #3645 – Create Your Own Kaizen Guidelines

While there are many resources available to guide you through your kaizen efforts, it’s important to personally understand your company’s kaizen journey. Reflecting on your kaizen efforts after improvements have been implemented is an important part of the continuous improvement cycle.

As you reflect on your efforts, develop your own kaizen guidelines. Start by creating guidelines based on your own experiences improving the workplace. Keep in mind that these guidelines should be for your colleagues, your successors, and yourself to understand the problems you have overcome. These guidelines will ultimately help you as you approach your next challenge.

Lean Tip #3646 – Focus on the Process, Not the Goal

Process focus might be the most significant difference between kaizen management and traditional management styles. Kaizen is based on a philosophy of slight, incremental, continuous improvement. When this style is fully operational, it creates a self-sustaining cycle of opportunities and solutions to reduce waste of time, money, and resources. Goal-oriented management focuses on control with a limited definition of success, while kaizen is flexible and adaptive. It uses metrics for evaluation rather than to measure the improvements and meet a predefined number. Finally, process-oriented management looks at the big picture, while goal-oriented management is more narrowly focused on the short term.

Lean Tip #3655 – Never Give Up

Whenever thinking about Kaizen continuous improvement you need to recognize that the ‘continuous’ part of the strategy is extremely important. This is a strategy that should be implemented as soon as possible and then continued indefinitely into the future. As soon as one improvement is made, it is time to start looking at what the next improvement opportunity will be.

It is also important to remember that there will be failures along the way. Some ideas will be tried and found to not produce the results that are needed. When this happens make sure you and your team don’t get discouraged or give up. Instead, start the process of finding and implementing improvements over and you’ll soon achieve the results you were hoping for.

Lean Tip #3656 – Leverage Influential Employees

Every organization has leaders and employees who seem to automatically understand and buy into new initiatives. If any of these team members are looked up to by the rest of the team, leverage their credibility to help create buy-in. When speaking about the upcoming change during meetings, ask these leaders and employees to speak up and give their opinions in front of the team.

Lean Tip #3658 – Provide Support, Training and Development

Sometimes it’s not that employees don’t want to embrace new changes – it’s simply that they don’t have the skills or knowledge to adapt to them. Provide them with training and development programs as part of the change process to invest in their growth and ensure they’re adequately prepared for the changes ahead. Allow sufficient time for your team to become prepared for any new responsibilities as far ahead of the change implementation as possible.

Lean Tip #3662 – Involve your Staff in the Life of the Company

Usually, your staff knows more than anyone else where the operational wastes are. They know the opportunities for improvement, and they often even know the solutions. It's not necessary to make any large capital investments to tackle improvements.

Involving your staff will improve their well-being and the performance of your business.

Make visible the standards reached by the work teams. Share the goals with regular meetings and internal publications: boards, magazines, mailings, etc.

These 10 Lean tips can help you with your journey in 2025. What advice would you share for the New Year?