Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image
Faith can have many different meanings. It can mean an inner faith, an unwavering belief in yourself, in your talents, in your ability to change, in your gifts, attributes and all round goodness. To some people faith can mean a belief in something bigger than themselves, a purpose, a grand vision, a religion. No matter what faith means to you, it will be challenged along the path of change. Your faith will be tested by external factors, by life itself and your faith will even be tested and challenged by yourself.
 Is this the right change for me?Â
Am I doing the right thing?
What if I don’t change?Â
All the doubting questions we ask ourselves will test even the strongest of faiths. It’s easy to keep faith through good times however it is through the difficult and rough times that your faith will really be tested and it is then that you must believe and have faith in yourself. Know that you are capable of change, have faith in your capabilities, your resilience, your reasons for change and the results you want to achieve.
Keeping your faith alive and strong will ensure you stay true to yourself and the change you envision.
[tweetthis]‘Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.’ Bruce Lee[/tweetthis]
If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.
Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image
Energy. Keeping your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual energy levels at an optimum will ensure you have the energy and vitality required for change. However you keep your energy levels high, scheduling time in your day to build your energy levels will go a long way to assist you on your journey of change. It could be 60 minutes at the gym, 30 minutes reading, 10 minutes of meditation or 5 minutes of solitude.
In this fast paced digital world we may think that we need to have high energy all the time to keep up with the many demands of our busy lives. Having high energy is important, however having low energy is just as important and both energy levels are required to create balance. As humans our energy levels are cyclical just like the seasons of nature that evolve into each other, just like night follows day, and just like the tides flow and ebb, each phase allows the other to co-exist.Â
When you are in a low energy phase allow yourself to take the foot off the pedal, be kind to yourself, relax, recuperate and enjoy the deep feeling of contentment that this can bring. This will serve you well when the time for high energy reappears.Â
[tweetthis]‘I surround myself with good people who make me feel great and give me positive energy.’ Ali Krieger[/tweetthis]
If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.Â
Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image
Dedication. Effective and sustainable change is a never ending journey which is why dedication is so important.To ensure change is implemented you must be dedicated to it. Even more dedication is required to ensure the implemented change is sustained.Â
Ask yourself the following questions, why do I want to change, why is this change so important, what will the benefits be, what will the consequences be if I don’t change, how much do I want this change?
Keep the answers to the above questions to the front of your mind as they will give you the determination you need to move ahead and succeed when times get tough as they inevitably will.
In order to succeed we need consistent, daily discipline and determination to stay on track.Â
[tweetthis]‘We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.’  Jesse Owens[/tweetthis]
If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.Â
Confidence. When you have decided to create change in your life you will need high levels of self confidence in yourself and in your ability to change.Â
Change often brings feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety.Â
Every time we make bring something new into our lives or learn something new, it requires a new and higher level of confidence to deal with those feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. Continuously building your inner confidence will diminish and alleviate these feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety.Â
These are normal feelings towards change, however if we do not deal with and alleviate these feelings they will hold us back. We can procrastinate and in some instances we can convince ourselves that we no longer need or want to change.Â
The best way to deal with feelings of uncertainty, fear & anxiety and the obstacles they create is to develop confidence – inner, unshakable self confidence.Â
As you build your inner confidence, you will inspire others to have confidence in themselves as they navigate the ever evolving path of change. As humans, we are capable of anything we put our minds to. The first step of achieving our dreams is having the inner confidence to believe we can.Â
[tweetthis]‘Through my education, I didn’t just develop skills, I didn’t just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.’  Michelle Obama [/tweetthis]
Pinky’s image below is inspired by 80s band Journey’s hugely successful song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. Playing, singing and dancing to this excellent song at high volume will do wonders for your self-confidence!Â
If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.Â
Bravery. Change of all kinds can be challenging as it means stepping into the unknown.Â
Change means stepping out of your comfort zone which is difficult and uncomfortable. What if we didn’t change? Yes, we would continue to feel happy enough in our comfort zones, but that’s not where anything or anyone grows!
Comfort zones are meant to be stepped outside of every now and then to see what it is we must learn to grow and develop. Even stepping out of our comfort zone by one or two steps requires bravery. Some people welcome change with open arms, some are filled with fear at the thoughts of even the smallest change and some are in between the two extremes.
Whether the change you are making is personal or professional, whether it is big or small, whether it is something you wished for or didn’t wish for, all change requires bravery on some level.
Bravery is deciding to change.Â
Bravery is taking action to change.Â
Bravery is stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Bravery is becoming comfortable with the results of change.Â
Bravery is doing what is needed to sustain change for the long term.Â
When it comes to change in your professional and personal life, take a deep breath, be brave, be very brave and take that next step forward.
What could you achieve with more bravery?
[tweetthis]‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.’ Nelson Mandela[/tweetthis]
This post is dedicated to my Dad, Con Danaher, who is the bravest person I know and through his humble braveness he has taught me to be brave and more happy than ever to venture into the unknown!
You can get a copy of my free e-book ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which this post is a part of by popping your e-mail into the form below,
The first step to creating effective change in life and business is awareness.
Awareness that something has to change, awareness that something is not working for you, awareness that you want something different.Â
Awareness comes from that feeling of something not being quiet right, that feeling that you know things could be better, that feeling that there is more for you.
Maybe you have had that feeling for years, maybe you have had that feeling for only a few minutes, however long you have had this feeling it now becomes an awareness, an awareness that change is needed and when you become aware the journey towards effective change can start.Â
As we navigate through our personal and professional lives, what we need expands and evolves. When we become aware of something and want to change it, we have two choices. The first choice is to do nothing resulting in no change, this awareness without change is a missed opportunity and those feelings of something not being quiet right do not go away. The feelings stay but without change will become suppressed.Â
The second choice is to take action.
Wouldn’t you rather take a step forward and change than remain where you are?
The second choice sets us on the path of change, then purposeful, focused and consistent action will move us along this path which is so much better than staying where we are.Â
One of my favourite Maya Angelou quotes isÂ
 ‘Nothing works unless you do’ Maya Angelou
This is so true when it comes to creating effective change in your business and your life. Become aware and take purposeful, focused and consistent action until the change you envisage becomes a reality.
[tweetthis]‘Awareness is all about restoring your freedom to choose what you want instead of what your past imposes on you’ Deepak Chopra[/tweetthis]
You can get a copy of my free e-book ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which this post is a part of by popping your e-mail into the form below,
Following on from my blog post ‘Red is Good’, this post takes a look at the role the colour green plays in business in terms of Lean. The colour green is associated with all things positive –  go, start, progress, energy, growth, environment, finance etc.Â
We use green in the Lean world to highlight when a target has been met, when something is on track, when a task has been completed, when we are happy with an outcome. As green is associated with positive outcomes, it would be normal to think that all green is good.
This is not always the case.
Problems exist in all processes and if all we are seeing is green then these problems are not visible. Â In this case then ‘All Green is Red!’. Problems will be invisible if your measures are too high level, too low level or if your measures are not the correct measures.
Taiichi Ohno’s well known saying ‘No problem is a problem’ is so true. If you are not seeing problems in your process than this is a problem.
How do you make problems visible in your workplace?
Does your culture support problem identification, discussion and solving?
Thanks for reading, you might like my previous post on ‘Red is Good’,
In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review & reflect on our goals (personal and professional) to evaluate what worked so we can build on the successes and evaluate what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.
I have been carrying out an ‘Annual Hansei/Review’ for many years and find it hard to believe this is the 7th year I have published this review online. See Annual Reviews from past years at the end of this blog post.
A large part of me didn’t want to do this year’s Annual Review as I would prefer to look forward to 2020 than to look back at 2019. Parts of 2019 were amazing, and parts were beyond sad. My uncle and one of my best friends passed away in Oct/Nov and everything else that happened in 2019 paled into insignificance.
Losing people you love is hard for many reasons and even if someone has been ill it is still so unexpected and completely unwelcome. It is an inevitable destination for us all but still yet so incomprehensible.Â
And so, with trepidation, here is my Annual Review for 2019. As always, Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of most of my happiness.
Lean is a business philosophy that I follow at work & in my personal life and that I write about here on my blog.Â
I had 3 ‘Lean’ highlights this year,
1. I travelled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on two trips to teach (and learn) Lean Principles & Leadership to the 2018 & 2019 classes of Riyadh Airport Future Leaders. These groups of young and inspirational Future Leaders taught me more than I could ever teach them. I am grateful to all at daa International for this opportunity esp. my friends Debbie Kearns for looking after me so well and all of the Riyadh Airports Future Leaders for welcoming me to their beautiful country and sharing their knowledge with me.
2. I wrote an e-book on ‘Positive Change’ Â All going well I will be launching it early in 2020. The e-book is a compilation of blog posts from a blog series I wrote in 2019/2019, you can view the blog posts here ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’
 3. I am fascinated by Japan and all things Japanese and in 2020 I am finally getting to tick Japan off my ‘to visit’ list. I have booked a place on Katie Anderson’s ‘Lean Study Trip’ in May 2020 and will be sharing the journey with you here on my blog and through social media
Similar to 2018, in 2019 I became more aware of the power and necessity of a Lean Culture in business. Respect for & development of people is truly the only way to grow and sustain businesses. Lacking these people focused elements and treating people poorly will ensure your company is one that people cannot wait to leave and are in no hurry to join, leaving your company moral on a downward spiral with your profits following closely behind.
In terms of Travel and Photography, my friend’s Karin and Paula enjoyed a few days skiing in the Italian Alps in February. I’m not the best skier  but the fresh air and the excellent company on the slopes was food for the soul!
 I visited Riyadh with work twice in 2019. My blog post on ‘The Top 5 Reasons To Visit Saudi Arabia’ was my most viewed blog post of 2019. I cannot recommend Saudi Arabia highly enough as somewhere to visit and now that it has opened to tourism, there has never been a better time.
My Mom and I spent 2 fabulous weeks on the islands of Malta and Gozo in September. I would highly recommend both islands as places to visit, you can read more about them on my blog posts,Â
 I enjoyed working with my gorgeous family and friends on photo shoots this year, it is always a joy to work with those you love.
Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes every day and so there is always much to keep up to date with.
In 2019 I continued to post about Travel and Photography and Positive Change on my blogs,
Throughout  2019 I continued to post daily positive quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media. I created ‘The Quotes Store’ on Flickr where you can download albums of these positive quotes for your own use.
I continued to work with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford who created the cartoons of ‘Pinky the Positive Pig’, the star of my 26 part blog post series  ‘The Complete A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which my new e-book is based. I look forward to sharing our new writing project with you later in 2020!
I love writing on my blogs and I learned over the past couple of years is that not only do you need to build skills to write content, but you also need to find the time to think about, write, edit, publish and market this content. I struggled to find enough time for writing last year (as I did in 2018) and so this is a real focus area for me for 2020.
I have always been aware of the importance of physical and mental health. 2019, for many reasons, brought this awareness to another level.Â
Keeping our physical and mental health in peak shape is required for everything else in our lives to function. Working to look after our physical and mental health should be the top priority in our lives and a daily practice to ensure same.Â
I wish you and your loved ones excellent physical and mental health in 2020.
In 2019 I continued to improve my financial habits by learning from Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’. Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of financial understanding which is why I like it so much.
Like all habits, my financial habits are a work in progress.Â
It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years. Year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2020.
That’s it, 2019 in review, albeit a little less detailed than previous years.
 Here’s to 2020, may the New Year (and the new decade) bring you and your loved ones health, happiness and prosperity,
Thanks for reading,
Siobhain
x x x
Note: The system I use for my Annual Review is a work in progress and evolves year on year. When I first carried out my Annual Review I started with a template used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own Annual Review, here is Chris’s guidelines on How To Conduct your own Annual Review and his Annual Review Template.
William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant.
Dr Deming’s philosophy below (thanks Wikipedia) will give you an insight into his profound wisdom and deep understanding of systems and operations and how they work efficiently, effectively and optimally.
‘Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organisations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.”
The above sentence sums up why all businesses would benefit from Lean and how Lean requires to be implemented through a series of systems that support the work and not as a stand alone philosophy.
See ‘Wikipedia’ for more information on Dr Deming and his great work.
The Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle, or PDCA cycle, is a technique designed to facilitate continuous improvement in the workplace. It is also referred to as the Deming Cycle, as it was popularized under the instruction of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Deming was introduced to the concept by Walter Shewart, a statistical quality control expert. PDCA has also been referred to as PDSA (Plan, Do Study, Act), PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Adjust) and numerous variations in between.
Whichever version you decide to you the principles are the same.
Dr Deming’s PDCA cycle has completely changed how I work and how I live. Everything I do in relation to projects & work (personal and professional) now goes through this cycle or some variation of it. Let me give you an insight into how it works and the benefits it brings.
PLAN
(Develop a detailed plan )
This is the first step in the Deming cycle, and it is here you determine exactly what the opportunity for change is. In this first step, it is important to determine what problem you are solving, what is the goal, what will the measurements of success be and how will you implement this change.
It is here that you determine exactly what you need to achieve success and how you will know you are successful. The only way to know if something has improved is by measuring it and so it is critical to determine what metrics will give you this information and how you will collect these metrics.
When you are happy you have a detailed plan, know what metrics you will monitor (and how you will gather and monitor these), it’s time to move into the ‘Do’ phase.
The above sounds very simple but it’s not uncommon for people, departments and organisations to plough ahead with change without a detailed well thought out plan.
Spending most of your time in the Plan phase will set you up for success on the next stages of the PDCA cycle.
DO
(Implement the changes according to the plan)
Here it is time for action and time to use the plan developed above to put that action in place. The plan will serve as an excellent guide and reminder of exactly what it is you want to achieve. The metrics you will gather during the ‘Do’ phase will ensure you are continuously moving in the right direction towards success.
If you are leading a team, department or an organisation through change it should be very clear at all stages in the ‘Do’ phase where you are with the change and what the next steps are.
CHECK
(Reflect on and evaluate results)
This phase reduces rework and provides clarity.
 This step is sometimes referred to as the study phase. Here we are reviewing and analysing the results of the improvements implemented in the Do phase.
In this phase you ‘Check’ if your initial goal from the ‘Plan’ phase has been reached and ‘Check’ if the metrics gathered support this goal achievement.
Did you reach your goal?
Do the metrics support this?
Are you happy that this initiative has been a success?
ACT
(What are the next steps?)
This step is our last in the where we ask 2 questions and act accordingly on the answers.
Did we reach our goal?
If the answer is Yes, we standardise, document and roll out the new process, training those who need to be trained. This is the new Standard Work on which we continuously improve.
If the answer is No, we may need to alter our methods of implementation, develop a new plan, or test our improvements on a larger scale.
As this is a cycle, the PDCA process never really ends.
It repeats itself providing the path to continuous improvement.
Do you use the PDCA cycle?
Could the PDCA cycle help you transform how you live and work?
Want to read more about change?
Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.Â
Lately, the Not To Do List has become my favourite time management tool!
My recent post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ highlights that there are many tasks that could be moved from your ‘to do list’ to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.
As our lives get busier and busier – creating, updating and getting through our ‘to do lists’ can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. The ‘so much to do, so little time’ syndrome has become widespread as we move through the digital age trying to juggle all that is part of our day to day lives.
The constant and exhausting need to take everything on and get everything done will eventually lead to burnout.
So how do we deal with our ever increasing ‘to do lists’ and the constant and consistent requests for our precious time?
Then place everything that does not need to be done on your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.
If you update your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every day you will feel you are getting through tasks by the simple movement of tasks from one list to another.Â
Time is so precious and a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ can make us think deeply about where we spend our precious time.
 To say my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ has totally transformed how I get things done is an understatement. For me, my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ is just as important and gets as much attention as my ‘to do list’.
As a big fan of lists but also as someone who is susceptible to overwhelm, I use a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every single day. As I review my daily plan of what needs to get done I also review what doesn’t need to get done that day.Â
I am always astounded at the amount of tasks that end up on my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ freeing up precious time!
Even physically moving something from your ‘to do list’ to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ will give you a sense of achievement!Â
Do you have a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’?Â
Could this help you free up time to focus on more important things in your life/business?
What would go on your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’?
Want to read more about Positive Change?
Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below
Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image
Image Credit:Â 