When you think of implementing a new process or procedure, you may not immediately think of examples of processes in your everyday life—but processes are a huge part of day-to-day life, whether you realize it or not.
Processes (in both the professional world and in your personal life) can have a few different purposes:
- To help create repeatable and desired results
- To help prepare and plan for unexpected events
Here is an example of a process that serves the first purpose of helping to create repeatable, desired results:
When I clean my living room, my process is to first dust off the surfaces and then vacuum the floor. What happens if I do it the other way around? Well, I would vacuum the floor to be nice and clean, but then when I begin dusting, I would likely knock some dust onto my freshly cleaned floor and may have to vacuum again. Not ideal. When I clean my living room using my process of dusting first and then vacuuming, I know I will end up with a nice clean living room each time without any rework.
On the other hand, here is an example of a process that serves the purpose of preparing and planning for unexpected events:
Like myself, you’ve likely had a conversation with the folks you live with about what to do in the case of a fire. We’ve talked about what to grab on our way out, how to corral and calm our dog so she doesn’t panic, where the nearest staircase is to evacuate the building, and where to meet up outside if we get separated while evacuating. This is a very important process to help keep us safe during an emergency.
The other good thing about having a process in place for these types of situations is that, in the frenzy of panic, you don’t have to worry about figuring out what to do; you already know what to do because you have a process in place.
Processes are everywhere in our daily lives. If you take a moment to reflect and identify the processes in your life, you may be able to identify a few places to improve upon to ultimately make your life a little easier.
